The Last Olympian Fanfiction
by Xangelic-demonicX
Summary: Post BOTL, TLO fanfiction written before book was published, obviously. Disclaimer: Me no own PJO. Please R&R.
1. I Faint From Chores

**Chapter 1: I Faint from Chores**

I invited Nico in for some cake, which was an awkward moment for me because I was just sitting there, twiddling my thumbs while he was munching away at the blue cake. After he was done, I motioned for him to move into the corner. I was sure to be extra careful that we were out of my mom and Paul's view before I let him start talking.

I lowered my voice to barely a whisper,

"Hey Nico, how've you been?"

"Just fine. Like I said, I've been gathering information, and I've found out a way we may be able to defeat Luke," Nico declared proudly. He yawned.

"That's great," I said, checking on my mom. When I turned around, he had already fallen asleep.

I sighed. He must have been worn out from climbing the fire escape. My muscles were aching just thinking about it. I laid him down on the floor and went out of my room to find my mom.

"Thanks for coming out to Percy's birthday party, Paul," she said.

"Yeah, thanks Mr. Blofis."

Paul smiled. "No, thank you, Percy." He winked and reached for the apartment door. Seconds later, I was alone with my mom in the room.

"Mom, I have something to tell you."

"Let me guess, one of your friends dropped in and is staying for the night," my mom replied promptly.

I stammered, "How...how did you know?"

My mom winked at me. I laughed. I took my mom to my room.

Nico woke up all of a sudden. "What's going on?" he murmured in a trance-like state.

"Oh sorry Nico." I gave myself the pleasure of introducing them. "Mom, this is Nico. He's a son of Hades. Nico, this is my mom."

"Hello Nico. You look quite worn out. Why don't you stary with Percy for the night, and I'll take you both to Camp Half-Blood in the morning," said my mom.

Nico replied, "Thanks, Mrs. Jackson," and he dozed off again.

My mom and I left the room and closed the door behind us.

"Percy, help with the dishes?" my mom asked.

"Sure."

My mom opened the tap and I bent all the water onto the plates. My mom started scrubbing each one of them. When we were done, I felt so drained, mostly because I hadn't tried my powers in the few days of rest I had.

"Percy, Percy!" my mom called. "What's wrong?"

My vision blurred and I collapsed and fell asleep. Joy.


	2. My Worst Nightmare

**Chapter 2: My Worst Nightmare**

I had another nightmare.

"Percy, help me!" cried Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

I was in a daze. My mind was cloudy and I couldn't see a thing. "Rachel, Rachel! Where are you?"

I heard an evil laugh. "Ha! Don't even try, halfblood, the only way you could possibly save him is to exchange his life for yours, and you're too proud to do that, aren't you Perseus?" the voice taunted.

"Luke?"

The voice laughed. "His conscience disappeared long ago..."

"Luke? Rachel?"

"PERCY!!!" cried Rachel.

"Wake up Percy! PERCY!" yelled Nico.

"What's up?"

"You overslept Percy, we're leaving for camp now," Nico said calmly.

"Wait...weren't you going to tell me something yesterday?"

"I'll tell you in the car," said Nico, annoyed with me. "Come on already, let's go Percy!"

I obediently got in the car. I knew from experience that it was best not to get on Nico's bad side, after all, his fatal flaw is holding grudges. Mine is loyalty to my friends. I thought about the nightmare from last night. Would I have really made that trade? I was interrupted before I could finish my train of thought.

"Are you interested about Kronos or not, Percy?" Nico stared at me impatiently.

"Oh yeah...uh...so what's the important news you got about Luke again?"

"Well, there's good news, and there's bad news," said Nico. "The bad news is that Kronos is pretty much invincible in every way so we can't use brute force to defeat him."

Oh great! Another immortal millenia year-old evil god of time to fend off, I thought to myself, but instead I asked, "So what's the good news?"

"Well, the good news is that I've found out a way to beat him," Nico said proudly.

I was confused. "Okay...so how would you defeat someone that you can't beat?" I replied in a stupid fashion.

Nico sighed, "Percy, will you just let me finish?"

I motioned for him to go on.

Nico continued, "Anyways, there's this river in the Underworld that I came across when I was training. It's called the River Lethe."

"The River Lethe...if I recall...wait...isn't that...?"

"Yeah," Nico replied curtly. "If we can dumb Luke into the river, theoretically, he'll have no recollection of being Kronos whatsoever."

"Theorectically? That sounds pretty unsure." Truthfully, I greatly questioned this er...theory of his, but I didn't want to be too insulting.

"Like I said, I'm still researching and testing out the effects. It's not that easy, because, well, to put it bluntly, I need a test subject and it's not easy to find a person who's willing to throw away their memories." Nico sighed.

I gulped. "Is there a way to reverse the process?"

Nico stared at Percy. "Well, yeah, but I'm not exactly sure it'll work." He paused. "Why? What's on your mind Percy? Wait...no...I couldn't."

"I'll help with you're sure there's a way to reverse it, Nico," I whispered, making sure that I was inaudible to my mom.

Nico nodded, then gulped. The rest of the car ride was very silent, as neither me nor Nico made a remark of any kind until my mom had announced that we were at Camp Half-Blood.

"Come on Percy, let's report to Chiron," Nico said.

We climbed Half-Blood hill together.


	3. Camp HalfBlood

**Chapter 3: Camp Half-Blood**

I was aiming to accomplish two things first. One was to avoid Annabeth, the other was to avoid Grover because if the heard of the stunt that I was trying to pull, they'd probably hold me down and break all my bones.

I entered the Big House quickly. Good, I thought to myself. No sign of Annabeth or Grover.

Me and my big mouth.

When I first saw Chiron, he was talking to a little girl and a satyr. Just my luck.

Grover turned around to look at the door. "Percy!" he cried out.

Mission failed, I thought to myself.

Annabeth turned around and smiled, then turned back to talk to Chiron almost immediately.

"Grover! Hey! What's up with Annabeth?"

"Well...she's still a little shaken up from the incident last year," Grover said.

"Oh..." I thought, a little ashamed of myself.

"Good luck with that! Go get her...well...see you later Percy!" said Grover, and he left.

Well, vote of confidence: 1, votes needed to confess to her: like 14. I sighed. Pathetic.

Annabeth finished talking to Chiron, and was proceeding to the door, never looking up. As she walked past me, I grabbed her shoulder. Boy, did that feel good! That's 3 more votes from me, myself and I.

"W...wait...Annabeth!" I stammered.

Annabeth looked at me deeply with her sincere gray eyes.

"I..."

Nico backed away. Smart move Nico. Thanks.

"I...I'm really sorry about last year, and hopefully we can...uh...work...around it?" I said with a twitchy voice.

I paused and I swear I saw a grin on her face. Then she smiled. "Count on it, Seeweed Brain." She left.

I was left alone with Chiron and Nico, happier than ever.

"So what's this about Kronos?" Chiron inquired.

Nico and I walked over to Chiron to explain.


	4. I Consult the Oracle

**Chapter 4: I Consult the Oracle**

"I see..." Chiron muttered. "Very well, go consult the oracle, Percy. I believe we are in need of a quest."

I ran upstairs into the attic. The mummy was sitting there, lifeless as always. I had only seen the oracle twice in my life as a demigod. The first was 4 years ago, when I went on my first quest to retreive Zeus' lightning bolt. The second was when it decided to go for a walk in the woods. Not the most pleasant experiences.

Green mist oozed out of her mouth.

_Approach seeker and ask._

"How can I accomplish my purpose?"

A picture of Luke formed and spoke, alternating between Kronos' voice and his normal voice.

_Four shall go west into death's domain,_

_One shall forget and then regain,_

_They will be joined by Zeus' pride,_

_A parent will choose which cause to side,_

_A choice of doors will the hero meet,_

_Without love, your cause shall end in defeat._

The mist faded and I was left alone. What did the oracle mean? A choice of doors? Would that be the choice I would have to make either to save the gods or destroy them? Or would it be like one of those games where one of the gatekeepers always lies and one of them always tells the truth? I wish.

I informed Chiron of the prophecy. He walked around in circles, pondering...wait...make that trotted. I don't think "walk" is an appropriate term for centaurs. Then again, I didn't believe the gods existed before. I can be so stupid sometimes.

"Well Percy. That pretty much explains it. I guess you'll be leaving soon," Chiron said.

"Yeah."

I was actually pretty excited about this quest. I mean, I hoped I wasn't going to die or lose my memories in an experiment gone totally wrong, but whatever happens, just happens, and there is hardly anything I could do to change the history of the world. Again, an understatement.

"So, I'll be taking Annabeth..."

I would not want to leave her behind. Correction, she probably wouldn't LET me leave her behind.

"Er...Grover..."

I've been on every single quest with Grover. He always managed to come through for me somehow.

"And...I need to bring Nico. So, I guess that's that."

I was just about to turn around and leave when Chiron interrupted.

"Oh, and Percy. Do not be tempted by the dark side of the force," Chiron advised.

Great! More Yoda garbage.

"These are bleak times, Perseus, and we must seek to gain every advantage available to win against the Titans. Kronos will seek to tempt you. Be careful. I have no doubt in my mind that you are the child of the prophecy. I'll see you when you get back," Chiron said thoughtfully.

"Thanks, Chiron. I'll remember that."

Yeah, right. I was apparently going to lose my memories for a while.

I thought back to when I first met Chiron as Mr. Brunner. He had informed me that I would make use of ancient Greek history almost daily and I thought he was a nutcase. If I've learned a single thing from coming to camp, it's that you can always count of Chiron to be right.

I sighed. This would be a long quest.


	5. The Quest Begins

**Chapter 5: The Quest Begins**

I had informed Annabeth, Grover and Nico that we were leaving the next morning, and since none of them seemed to disagree, we did just that.

I packed as light as possible. I stuck to packing the necessities, like spare clothes and a change of underwear in a bag, some drachmas, and mortal money. I just did a quick check to make sure that Riptide was in my pocket, and then I went to fetch Annabeth and the others.

When I opened my cabin door, I found out that all three of them were already standing there, waiting for me.

"Seeweed Brain! You overslept!" Annabeth yelled.

"You could've just woken me up!"

"Forget it," interrupted Nico. "Let's just go."

When we reached the borders of camp, I was shocked. Every single halfblood was there cheering us on. Beckendorf tinkered on a big metal "banner" that read "Good luck on your quest!" The Aprodite kids were busy making necklaces and selling them to support our cause. Even Clarisse couldn't help but smile.

"Yo..." Clarisse started. "Next time you go on a quest, don't you DARE forget to take me."

Whoa! She looked pretty threatening.

"Yeah sure..."

I hoped that would keep her off me. She didn't look convinced, but I couldn't care less. I was going to be away from her in 10 seconds.

As I waved back to all my friends, I felt a sense of pity. I desperately hoped I would make it back alive, and so, the quest begins.

We took a taxi to the nearest bus stop, and planned out our route from there.

"Death's domain? I guess that'd be the Underworld," Annabeth said, shivering.

"Yeah. Nico still has unfinished business there, right Nico?" I gave him a hard nudge.

"Huh? Oh right yeah. Uh...Percy was going to help me tes..."

I cut in quickly. "Test his skills in fighting! Yeah."

I gave Nico a stare that said: Shut up now or I will hurt you later. Apparently, he got the message. I glanced at Annabeth. She looked unconvinced. Whatever. It'll do for now.


	6. A Transportation Crisis

**Chapter 6: A Transportation Crisis**

We got on the first bus that stopped near the Underworld.

"Tickets please," the bus driver asked.

I was reaching in my pockets for the money, but a golden drachma fell out by accident. Annabeth picked it up and returned it to me. The driver stared intently at Annabeth. I finally managed to grab the money.

"Here you go." I said, but it seemed that the driver was no longer interested in the money.

"What's your name, fine lady?" the bus driver inquired.

"A..Annabeth..." she stammered.

"Annabeth eh? What a fine name... You almost remind me of someone I knew a long time ago," the bus driver said.

I stood there, questioning the driver's alibi. Then, I did the stupidest thing.

"Back off Annabeth! Why are you so interested in her?" I blurt out.

Annabeth looked at me questioningly. I should learn to be smarter in my thoughtless remarks.

"Good question boy, because she is the perfect person I can get revenge on. You're a daughter of Athena aren't you?" the bus driver.

I went blank. Annabeth stared at her.

"Wait..how did you? ...No way...it can't be...you aren't...?"

The bus driver started morphing. She sprouted six legs and...wait...last time I checked, bus drivers had two legs.

"...Arachne," Annabeth just stared.

Oh right...the mortal who Athena turned into a spider. I pulled out and uncapped Riptide. I heard mortals screaming like crazy and scrambling to get off the bus. Whatever they saw, it could not have been pretty.

The bus was the worst place to have a fight. I saw Grover trying to steer the bus straight, without any luck whatsoever. I was more concentrated on not dying. I jumped from seat to seat and tried to avoid the webs that Arachne was spinning. What I hadn't noticed was the floor. When I jumped onto the floor, I got stuck and couldn't move. I looked down, the floor was covered in honey. Stupid mortals, I thought to myself.

"Annabeth! Help!" I yelled.

Annabeth rushed over and tried to pull me up but it was hardly than I thought. Boy, that was some sticky honey. Just when Arachne was about to kill us and I thought we were done for, the monster vanished and dust fell to the floor. Nico stood there looking proud with his sword of Stygian iron.

"Thanks Nico. You're a life saver."

A very happy moment, until Annabeth cut in.

"Uh...don't mean to interrupt, but you're still stuck and Grover's got the wheel. And also, GROVER! How did you not smell her?" she yelled.

"Dunno! Maybe the monsters have a way to cover there scents now?" said a troubled Grover.

"That's awkward..." Annabeth reiterated. "Anyways, hurry up Seeweed Brain."

"Right." Grover and driving, don't really work out. Neither do me and liquid honey.

LIQUID honey!!! Right! I am such an idiot. Son of Poseidon ring a bell? I just willed the honey to move away from my feet. Sure the honey was less viscous, but it still moved..... slowly.........very slowly........ Well the point is, about 15 minutes later, I was free from the honey. I quickly ran to the wheel.

"Move it, Grover!" I yelled.

"GLADLY!" Grover said.

Poor satyr. I don't think they were built to take much pressure.

After a couple of hours of peaceful driving, we arrived at the Underworld and you'd never guess who was there you greet us.


	7. Welcoming to the Underworld by Hades

**Chapter 7: The God of The Dead Welcomes Us to the Underworld**

"Father!" I heard Nico cry out.

Hades? Making a point to see us at the entrance of the underworld. Somehow that was awkward.

"Hello Nico. I suspect you have found a person willling to..."

Nico stared him down and Hades fell silent. After a couple seconds of silence, Hades responded.

"Ah...er...Annabeth, Grover? How would you to check on Daedalus? I believe he would like to see how you guys are doing," Hades said.

Annabeth squealed. "AHHHH!!!! SURE!!! I've been dying to ask him questions anyways! Let's go Grover!"

And without another peep, Annabeth grabbed Grover and went off with Hades. Hades winked back at Nico. Nico waved back.

"Thanks dad," I heard him mutter.

Nico and I ventured into the Underworld. It reminded me of my first visit here. Let's...not go there. I followed Nico, who seemed to know where he was going until he stopped at a field of flowers.

"Yeah...last time I checked, rivers were not flowery," I blurted out thoughtlessly.

"You're gonna need one of these if you want your memory back. Better take more just in case," Nico said.

I sensed that he was very serious, so I shut up. After all, I didn't want to be losing my memory either.

After he gathered some of the weird flowers, we started walking again. My legs were dead.

"Hold up Nico. Let's take a break."

"Fine," Nico responded. I had a feeling he was still a little annoyed with me.

We sat there for a while in comfortable silence, until I couldn't take it anymore.

"Uh...The plan's going to work right?"

"Probably..." Nico replied in a shaky tone.

He seemed troubled. "What's wrong Nico?"

"Oh nothing," he replied.

"Okay, well I'm done resting up, so, let's get going."

We kept walking until we got to the River Lethe. I think Nico started panicking.

"Uh...Percy, you're sure about this right?" Nico asked hesitantly.

Sure I wasn't so sure, but I needed to boost his confidence.

"Yeah, of course! The prophecy said it would! One will forget and then regain, right? Why would I have second thoughts?" Stupid me. "But, I'm gonna need a push from you okay Nico? Don't hold back!"

He nodded. I was ready, well, not really, but I couldn't turn back at this point. He pushed, and I started to fall. As I was about to enter the water, I heard a voice.

"Percy? PERCY!!! What the hell are you doing? That's the River Lethe!" Annabeth yelled.

It pained me to know that Annabeth and Grover, particulary Annabeth was going to see this. Too late to stop now. I closed my eyes, and fell.


	8. A Feud Between Friends

**Chapter 8: A Feud Between Friends**

I woke up and I saw this beautiful girl in front of me, with warm, kind gray eyes. I was about to lean up and kiss her because it felt like I had known her forever, but then I realized something...disturbing...

"Where am I? Who am I?"

The beautiful gray-eyed girl beside me spoke. "Percy! Oh thank goodness you're awake!"

"Percy? Who's that? I hope it's not your boyfriend, cause I kinda wanted to make out with you. Wait...Who are you?"

"Ugh...What's gotten into you Seeweed Brain? I'm Annabeth. NICO!!!" the girl said.

As my vision cleared, I saw a goat-like creature beside me and the girl. Eventually, she got up and ran over to another boy with pale-white skin and jet black hair. The girl named Annabeth started shaking the other boy wildly.

"NNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIICOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! What did you do to Percy? I saw you push him in to the river and now, I think he's forgotten me!" Annabeth cried.

"Annabeth," the goat said calmly. "Remember, if the waters of the River Lethe touch you, you'll lose you, you'll lose your memories forever, now calm down. There must be a reason why Nico pushed Percy into the river. Let him speak."

"Nico! How could you? There's no way? How could you betray the gods? How could you do this to Percy?" Annabeth cried.

It looked like some kind of drama performance. Apparently, I was in it.

"Nice performance...er...Annabeth...very convincing." I clapped.

Annabeth sobbed.

"Look Annabeth!" Nico cut in. "I'm trying to help you here, I can get Percy back to normal, just give me a sec..."

"NO WAY! I am not letting you touch Percy again! TRAITOR!" Annabeth yelled, stepping in front of Percy.

The beautiful girl was trying to protect me! Somehow, I felt a whole lot safer. I would remember to hug her after the show was over.

"Look Annabeth! I'm trying to help here. Percy gave me consent to wipe his memories clean," called a distressed Nico.

"LIAR! I'll never believe a word of what you say again!" Annabeth yelled back.

"I think he's telling the truth, Annabeth," Grover stated calmly.

"You know what, take his side, just SHUT UP GROVER!" Annabeth screamed.

"Shutting up now," Grover muttered silently.

"Look, whether you believe me or not, I have two very valid reasons to make you move. A) I don't want to hurt you. And more importantly, B) Percy's only got a couple of more minutes until he stays like that forever, so take your pick," Nico stated.

"Try and hurt me, Nico!" Annabeth taunted, running at full speed towards Nico.

"Grover, catch the bouquet and give it to Percy!" Nico yelled and he tossed Grover the bouquet of flowers he had picked earlier.

Annabeth turned around just as Grover caught it. "Don't do it Grover, it's a poison!"

Grover stared, from Annabeth to Nico to me. My hands were reaching out for the bouquet, because, well...it looked nice.

Apparently, Grover let go of the bouquet, and let it drop on me.

"Oops..." Grover said. "Dropped it!"

"Grover," Annabeth said. "WHY YOU.....!"

All of a sudden, I felt a different sensation, the world was swirling around me and somehow, I felt conscious again. Still, my head hurt.

The first thing I saw was Annabeth running towards me, dagger held high.

"Wait...Annabeth! STOP! It's me!"

Annabeth paused. "Percy?"

"Yeah, Wise Girl, who do you think I am?"

"Oh Percy!" Annabeth said. She hugged me tightly.

Wait...did she just hug me? Wait...did I just blush involuntarily? That's weird.

"You know, for a Wise Girl, you're pretty slow." I laughed.

"Don't ruin the moment, Seeweed Brain." She laughed with me.

Nico can over to me.

"Well, I guess that's done," Nico said. "It works. Now, somehow we have to get Kronos here."

"Or..." Annabeth suggested. "We could bring the water to him. If we can get a spy into Kronos' army, we might be able to just make Kronos drink the water."

"I doubt Kronos is that stupid," Nico said.

"Yeah, no offense Annabeth, I'm with Nico on this one," Grover said. "If we're going to do this, we're going to have to bring Kronos here."

"Well, at least I had an idea," Annabeth declared.

I was feeling better now. I had gotten over almost all of the dizziness and side effects of the flower and it was probably time to go, until I heard it again.

"Son!" the voice called.

Oh my god, why did that guy have to show up over and over again? I appreciated his help, but his two second disappearing/appearing act REALLY bothered me.

"How did it go?" Hades asked.

"It was great," Nico replied. "It ended up working out really well. Percy experienced some side effects but other than that, it was awesome."

"Well done!" Hades praised, patting Nico on the back. "That's my boy."

Awkward scene: God of the Dead patting his son on the back. I'd almost say it's bad luck.

"As your reward, I've arranged for transportation at the entrance of the Underworld and well, there's a little surprise waiting for you there too." Hades winked.

"Thanks, really appreciate it." I smiled.

Annabeth, Grover, Nico and I left the river, and approached the entrance of the Underworld. And waiting for us there...was a taxi, and none other than...


	9. It HAD to be her

**Chapter 9: The Only Person More Annoying than Annabeth**

Thalia...A face I hadn't seen in a while. It just HAD to be her... Truthfully, I would have rather spent time with a mountain troll. I probably should have said hi, but I asked something incredibly thoughtless instead.

"When and how the hell did you get here?"

That would have probably deserved a few shocking punches. Luckily, she was in a good mood.

"Artemis dropped me off after Hades told her to. Where's Annabeth?" asked Thalia.

Rather unpolite of her too, but I didn't complain, I mean, if it was going to end up in a fight, I probably would have been the one electrocuted to death. But, she did make a good point...where was Annabeth? She was right behind me a second ago...

"THALIA!!!!!!" I heard Annabeth scream in a shrill voice.

I turned around and saw Grover, Nico and Annabeth just approaching the entrance of the labyrinth. Annabeth ran up, and gave Thalia a big hug. Then, she turned around to face me and did something very...er...unexpected...

She shouted, "WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU PERCY? You kept walking and walking and you just rushed way in front of the rest of us. Gosh Percy! It's called wait-ing. W-A-I-T-I..."

"Yeah, come on, I'm not THAT dumb." I complained.

Grover whispered to Nico, "I think she's mad."

"Yeah...I'm getting that too," Nico replied.

Thalia snickered. "I guess some people never change." Her snickering burst into laughter.

Everyone joined in, well, except me of course. I wasn't really inclined to laugh about myself, and I didn't really get the joke anyways.

"Remind me why you're even here."

"Like I said, Hades told Artemis that you were going on a quest. When I heard your name, I wondered if it was the 16th birthday quest thing. I asked Artemis, apparently it was, and so, I asked if I could join you and she said that would be ideal. Afterwards, she dropped me off here. Do I have to repeat that for you, Seeweed Brain?" asked Thalia.

"No."

"Do I have to repeat that for you, Seeweed Brain?" asked Thalia, this time in a louder tone.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" You don't. I don't even know why we would ever need you!" I snapped back.

"Well let's see..." Thalia thought. "Do you have a long-range attacker, or daugther of Zeus on your team?"

"No, but..."

"Did you know that Zeus is the mightiest of the gods and long-range attackers are ideal in battles?" Thalia kept questioning.

"Maybe, but..."

"I am long-range attacker and daughter of Zeus, therefore, YOU need ME," she concluded, purposely using sentence fragments to ridicule me.

I actually got the joke this time. Quite proud of myself, was I.

"But, seriously Thalia..."

I tried to argue, but um...I was so rudely interrupted by...Grover?

"You know, Percy..." Grover said half laughing, "I think she's actually got a good point."

I went over to Grover and whispered "How can you side against your best friend?"

"Not my fault Percy, sometimes you really are a Seeweed Brain." Grover laughed.

Even I joined in the laughter this time. This was the first time I had met up with my friends all together, in a LONG time. Meh! Might as well enjoy it.

We decided just to camp there for the night, after all, it was going to be a long day tomorrow. What I didn't know is that it was going to be literal.


	10. The Day Gets Even Longer

**Chapter 10: The Day Gets Even Longer**

I had another nightmare. Luckily, it was quite short.

I was in the Underworld and all I heard was this:

"Percy, what are you doing?" a voice said. "Get back here."

"Surely, you would like me better, Perseus?" another voice said. "Come here, let me kiss you."

The very next thing I heard was:

"Yo! Seeweed Brain! Get up!" a voice yelled.

I opened my eyes, Thalia was standing in front of me, along with Grover, Annabeth and Nico.

Geez! I wished that the human lightning bolt would go mind her own business.

"Yeah," I said wearily. "What's up?"

I turned to face Annabeth, a person much more pleasant to look at, as compared to Thalia.

"It's time, Percy," Annabeth said. "It's all screwed up. You know what time it is?"

"Too early...because I haven't waken up yet, call me in 5 hours, will ya?"

I closed my eyes again. I heard Annabeth growl in frustration as she walked away. I also heard someone else approach me.

"Percy. It's 6.5:00 a.m.," Nico whispered.

What the?

"What the?" I finally woke up. "Whaddya mean 6.5 a.m.?"

"Look at my watch," Thalia finally said.

Sure enough, in between the 6 and the 7, there was a new line that read 6.5... That's freaky.

"You know what else, Grover has been asking the villagers around here," Thalia said, "and everybody seems too think that this is perfectly normal. Just what does Kronos think he's doing?"

"So, instead of 24 hours, there's 48?"

They all nodded. Oh...that made me feel a whole ton better. At least it wasn't me that was crazy, it was the world.

"I think we would better get going then."

"Where?" Nico asked. "To Kronos' hideout?"

"No...not yet...I have another place in mind."


	11. We Run into BIG Trouble

**Chapter 11: We Run into BIG Trouble**

"Where are we going?" Annabeth asked.

We were going to a certain destination that I had in mind. I believed that it would be crucial if we wanted any chance to beat Luke whatsoever. I didn't want to spoil it though. I laughed to myself, maybe they'd finally recognize my genius.

"You'll see."

"What are you laughing at, Seeweed Brain?" Annabeth asked.

I didn't answer, instead, I laughed even louder.

Thalia whispered to Annabeth. "I bet he thinks he's really smart or something."

"I bet you're right," Annabeth whispered back.

The taxi that Hades had gotten us wasn't particularly comfortable. Correction, it wasn't comfortable at all. Four of us had to cram into the back seat, which left Grover in the front seat.

Annabeth was so close to me that I could feel her breath. I kinda enjoyed that.

Unfortunately, our ride was cut short.

"Everybody out!" the taxi driver called.

"Why?"

Well, I really dunno why, but I got out anyways. It must've been something serious since he had yelled so loudly. Annabeth, Nico, Thalia and I jumped out of the backseat almost just as quickly as I did, and Grover got out of the front seat.

I soon noticed what the taxi driver was yelling about.

There was a huge giant (I think it was a Laestrygonian) standing quite close to our car, about 50 m away.

When I turned around, the taxi wasn't there anymore. It seemed like magic. I thought to myself, WOW! He ditches people in danger fast. I didn't blame him though, whatever he saw, it couldn't have been pretty.

I pulled out and uncapped Riptide. I looked around and saw that everyone else was pulling out their weapons.

"LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"

Silence. It sounded funnier in my head. Oh well.

"Spread out guys!" Thalia yelled.

As much as I didn't like her, she had a point. Spreading out would make harder targets for the giant.

Thalia pulled out her bow and started firing at the giant, but even with electricity charging in the arrows, it didn't do much. In fact, I think the giant was barely getting itchy.

Nico circled around the giant and started to climb it. I was about to tell Nico that it wasn't the best idea, but I guess he found out the hard way.

The giant grabbed Nico off his "butt" and tossed him up into the air. Nico screamed as he fell.

Thalia ran straight for the giant. Great, now I had 2 people to worry about.

"What the hell are you doing, Thalia? Are you trying to be suicidal?"

Then, she did something unexpected. When the giant saw her, he swung his club recklessly and she leapt on it, then rode the club to the back of the giant and jumped off...

What on earth was she thinking? Then, it came to me.

"Nico!"

Come on...need water, I thought. But we were just on the road and there was no water whatsoever in sight. I scanned the area, and saw the vending machine. Bingo.

I willed the drinks to explode and I moved the water right under Thalia, who actually managed to catch Nico...that's pretty darn skilled...

The water actually managed to set them down gently on the ground. Thalia came over to me.

"Not bad, Seeweed Brain," she said, actually COMPLIMENTING me?

"Er...not too shabby yourself?"

"Seriously, if you're gonna compliment me, at least do it wholeheartedly," she snapped back.

"Then maybe I shouldn't compliment you at all!"

I turned away from her. She did the same.

"Hey guys," Annabeth said. "I hate to break your moment, but um...you've got like a 20-foot giant with a club staring at your face."

I forgot. There was still a Laestrygonian giant staring us in the face.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I yelled.

Thalia sighed, then screamed too. Then, all of a sudden, the monster turned to dust. I looked carefully and saw that Nico was standing there with his Stygian iron sword.

"Nice job, with the distractions, Percy," he said.

"Yeah...thanks. I meant to do that...yeah!"

Thalia looked displeased. "All you did was scream!" she said.

"Yeah, and I saved your life. Remember that detail, huh?"

"And if I can recall," Grover said, "you screamed pretty loud too Thalia."

"Did not!" she said.

"Did too!" I laughed. "You're still as stubborn as always."

"You're no different," she said with no emotion.

Annabeth, always being the straight-forward one, always had to ruin the moment. "Yeah, Percy, you do notice that we're in the middle of nowhere and don't have a ride."

"That's okay, I always have a Plan B."

That scared me, since when was I that prepared?

Well, I did the only thing I could, I called my mom.

"Hey mom!"

"Oh Percy! How are you doing?" my mom asked. I heard her whisper, "It's Percy" to Mr. Blofis.

"Er...mom, I need a ride."

"Oh. Well, where are you exactly?" she asked.

"I actually really don't know. Somewhere in New Jersey."

"How am I supposed to find you, hon?" she asked.

Good point.

"Um...I'll send you like a flare in the sky. Look for it, kay? And bring a van, there's like 5 of us."

"Okay, I'm bringing Paul too. Since we might be getting married soon, you probably want to tell him about you, and with your friends there, it might be a little easier," she said.

"Okay mom, no prob! See you soon! Love you!"

"Love you too. I'll be close to there, in about 5 hr, start sending up flares then," she said and then, she hung up.

I hung up.

"My mom's coming."

"Great," Thalia said in a sarcastic tone.

"...in 5 hrs."

"Even better..." she continued in an even more sarcastic tone. Then, it turned into, "WHAT?"

"5 hrs, Percy?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, 5. We'll have to send up a flare too."

"How're we going to do that?" Grover asked.

"We'll see..."


	12. I Fail at Sending Flares

**Chapter 12: I Fail at Sending Flares**

I've never sent up a flare before.

I was so desperate, I started throwing grass up into the air. Thalia looked at me as if I was the creature worth the most pity in the world. I knew what she was thinking, so I just snorted back at her.

"Things couldn't get any worse," she mumbled.

Then, all of a sudden, lightning cracked and thunder roared. Rain fell from the sky.

Great, I thought to myself, even the gods were taking pity on me.

Instead of pitying myself, I laughed at Thalia instead.

"Shut up, Seeweed Brain," she sneered.

"Well, at least there's water," Annabeth said. "Maybe you could make a decent flare out of that."

Well, she made a good point. I built up a whirlpool-like structure with the rain and was pretty successful until...Zeus decided to send a lightning bolt down at the whirlpool. Did I mention that water conducts electricity.

I got shocked. BIG TIME! Luckily, I don't think Zeus wanted to kill me, so, it wasn't deadly. Shut up, old man, I thought to myself.

Thalia burst into laughter.

"Look, do you want me to send up the stupid flare, or not?"

I think that did it, I silenced her.

This isn't going to work, I thought to myself. There's already a ton of pouring rain, no one's gonna see a whirlpool in the sky with so much rain.

As much as I hated to say it, "Thalia, I need your help."

I expected a, "HAH! In your face Seeweed Brain!" But instead, surprisingly, I got a "Sure," from her.

That's...creepy.

"Er...yeah...Can you try to channel some electricity through this?"

Sure enough, she did what she was told, except she decided to have some fun and shock me too.

"AHH!" I screamed. "WITHOUT SHOCKING ME!" I added.

She shrugged, and sent another bolt of lightning into the sky through my whirlpool.

Another lightning bolt from the sky came down, and when the two met, a shower of sparks erupted in the gleaming water, which shined in the air.

"I think that'll do it." I said, proudly.

10 minutes later, my mom arrived.

"Woah! I saw a shower of sparks here and I was really worried about you, Percy," Paul said.

"Yeah. That was me."

"And...me," Thalia added.

Awkward silence.

"Say wha?" Paul looked dumbfounded.

If I explained now, Paul probably would have had a heart attack and we would have had to carry him onto the car and to the hospital. I figured getting on the car first would eliminate step 1. At least then, we would only have to drive him to the hospital.

"Let's get on the car first."


	13. Paul Learns of Greek Mythology

**Chapter 13: Paul Learns of Greek Mythology**

The rain subsided by this time, and I decided that it would be a good time to tell him about...that.

"So, Mr. Blofis...before you propose to my mom..."

Paul blushed. Did I say something wrong?

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm the son of Poseidon."

"Yeah, I knew that a long time ago," Paul replied, probably thinking that I was the dumbest person in the world. "Your dad came into the apartment on your birthday and introduced himself, remember?"

Paul started laughing. Stupid idiot. I smacked myself. Thankfully, Annabeth stepped in for me.

"Actually," she started. "What Percy meant to say that his father is the God of the Sea, that Poseidon."

Paul stopped laughing.

"So, you're telling me that, the Greek Gods actually exist? Then, who's your Olympian Parent?" he asked Annabeth.

"I'm the daughter of Athena," Annabeth replied.

"Oh...Daughter of Athena, HA!" Paul laughed. "You're too much."

The most important influence finally decided to speak: my mom.

"They're telling you the truth Paul," my mom murmured.

Paul laughed even louder.

"So, you're telling me that all these kids are sons or daughters of Olympian gods?" Paul asked, thinking we were all insane.

"Actually," Grover stated. "I'm a satyr."

"Okay, so, other than goat boy here, you guys are all kids of Olympian gods?"

We all nodded.

"Okay, you can stop the charade," Paul said. "I know you're trying to pull my leg. Nice try, but I'm sane for your information."

"For someone who's a teacher, he's quite reluctant to believe true facts," Nico whispered to me.

"He's not going to listen..." Thalia whispered.

"Yeah, I know."

"You there!" Paul yelled.

Thalia jumped. "Yeah?"

"So who are you supposed to be? Daughter of Zeus or something?" Paul laughed.

"Yeah," Thalia answered, "In fact, I am."

Paul like exploded, laughter wise. We went on and on about how funny we were until I couldn't take it anymore. One more minute of laughing at us and I would have lost my sanity and killed someone.

"Look, if you don't believe me, I'll MAKE you believe me." I stated clearly.

"Percy, seriously...you're not going to make me believe in Greek Gods, like anytime soon." Paul said.

I ignored him and went on. "Mom, got a water bottle somewhere?"

"Yeah, there's some in the back, beside Grover," she replied.

"Yo! Grover! Throw me a water bottle, will ya?"

Grover looked around and found a pack of water bottles. He ripped open the package and tossed one to me.

"Look, Mr. Blofis, even if you don't believe me, at least look."

Paul turned in his seat. Perfect.

I placed the water bottle in my left palm. I motioned for the water to move up with my finger, and it exploded through the cap. I held the water there for a few seconds, made sure Paul was staring at the water, and then finally, I splashed the water onto his face.

"Here's something to quench your thirst," I said, smiling.

Paul opened his mouth to say something, but I really didn't he could muster up the courage to admit that he was wrong.

My mom stopped the car, and stopped on the side. She got out, and turned to help Paul. "Whoa, Paul, are you okay? Do you need something?"

Paul got out of the car, and spoke. "B...b...bbbbb....but how is that pp...possible?"

I got out of the car and everybody followed. "Now do you believe me? Son of Poseidon knows how to manipulate water."

"Th...then...who are you?" Paul stuttered.

I laughed. I motioned for the others to form a line.

"I'm Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon."

I looked around for some water and found none. Instead, my mom handed me the water bottle.

I moved the water out of the bottle and dumped it on my hair.

I showed Paul. "See? Not wet."

Paul gasped, and I moved out of the way, snickering. The others followed my lead.

"I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena," Annabeth introduced.

Annabeth showed Paul the ordinary Yankees cap, and then put it on. Expectedly, she disappeared.

Paul freaked out and gasped again. I laughed. Annabeth took off the cap and moved to the side. It was Thalia's turn.

"I'm Thalia, daughter of Zeus," Thalia said. "How do you do, Mr. Blofis?" she asked as she reached for his hand.

He took it shakily. Ouch...bad idea. Knowing Thalia, she was going to shock him (literally) big time.

I totally saw that coming. "OWWWWW!!!" he screamed.

Thalia took her place beside me. Nico approached him.

"I'm Nico, son of Hades."

I could see Nico thinking what to do, and it came to him.

He clapped his hands. The earth opened up right in front of him and summoned a few undead skeletons. Then, with another clap, the skeletons disappeared into thin air.

Paul backed away. I laughed again. "Relax, they're not going to hurt you."

"PERCY! Don't be so mean!" my mom yelled.

I nodded.

"Okay, I give!" Paul said.

"Wait! I wanted to go too!" Grover whimpered. "Thalia, need your help!"

Thalia went over to Grover and snapped her fingers.

"I'm Grover," he said. "I'm a satyr."

Seconds later, Paul SCREAMED. It was a very high, girly scream too. I couldn't help but laugh.

After Thalia came back, I asked her "What did you do?"

"Standard Mist Manipulation, I made him see Grover as a satyr," she said, smiling.

I laughed. Poor Paul was so lost and confused.

"This is all some crazy nightmare," he said.

"No, it isn't Paul," my mom said, trying to comfort him.

"Yeah," I stepped in. "You're going to marry my mom soon, so try to get used to it!"

"Right..." he said, and then he just collapsed.

Poor guy. May as well help him. We carried him back onto the car, and my mom continued driving to our destination.


	14. We Pay a Visit to Luke's House

**Chapter 14: We Pay a Visit to Luke's House**

Paul finally woke up after about like 2 hours.

"What's going on?" he whispered.

Grover replied, "You're in the back of the car, sleeping."

"AHHH!" Paul screamed as he got up. "You're th...that...sa-tire! Or something..."

"That's satyr," Grover snapped. "Thank you very much.

"Oh...My head hurts." Paul said.

I kinda felt sorry for Paul. I was thinking about the best way to cheer him up when my mom brought the car to a stop.

"We're here," she announced.

"Remind me again..." Annabeth said, annoyed that I didn't tell her where we were going, "Where is here? It's just an ordinary mortal house."

"Ah...but that's where you're wrong, Annabeth." It's not just an ORDINARY mortal house. It's LUKE's mortal house."

"Your point?" Annabeth asked.

"Well, Mrs. Castellan may know about Luke's weaknesses, so we can defeat him."

"Er...hate you break it to you," Annabeth said, "But um...Mrs. Castellan may know Luke's weaknesses, but probably not Kronos', and we could have probably gotten better information if we had asked Hermes."

Dammit. Why did she always have to make sense?

"Dammit Annabeth, why can't you make sense for once? We might find out some valuable information from this trip!"

I winked at her.

"Yeah, fine," she said.

Haha! She got lured, big time.

Grover rolled his eyes at me and told me, using the empathy link, "Just ask her out already, Percy!"

"I will..." I complained, "in the near future, in the far near future....eventually."

Grover sighed.

"Well, let's go."

Everyone, including my mom and Paul followed. I was hesitating at the door for a moment, thinking about what kind of person Mrs. Castellan might be, but, it was too late to turn back now. Nice or mean, loyal to Kronos, or not, I would find out here. I did the only I could do.

I pressed the doorbell.


	15. Mother of All Sins

**Chapter 15: Mother of All Sins**

A middle-aged woman opened the door.

"Hello," she said, "And who might you be?"

"Oh..um...I'm Percy Jackson, and these are my friends and mom."

"Oh! You mean, you're the Percy Jackson?" she asked bewildered. "The one Luke's always telling me about? Well, come right in."

"Thank you," Annabeth said.

We stepped into the house. At first glance, it was pretty ordinary. But then again, you noticed that there were a lot of flowers all over the place, quite freaky actually.

"Oh, come on in, don't be shy," Mrs. Castellan said.

She moved into the living room and beckoned for us to follow her.

"Take a seat," she said, "Please."

I was looking at the chair, hoping that it wasn't enchanted and throw me into hell or something. I closed my eyes as I sat down.

Nothing.

Oh good, at least the mother of Luke wasn't evil. Everybody else saw that I was fine and took a seat. Thalia, however, remained standing.

"So," she asked, "What brings you here?"

"Nothing much, I thought we'd pay a visit to Luke since he wasn't at camp," I lied. "Is he around?" I asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"He's not at camp?" she asked. "He writes back every summer, telling me that he's enjoying camp."

I was about to ask something, but then Thalia cut in.

"So, he hasn't come back?" she asked.

"Not that I'm aware of," Mrs. Castellan said. "Seriously, though, where could he have gone off to?"

Then I heard a voice.

"I'm right here," the voice said.

That is freaky.

"Uh...do any of you guys here a voice?"

"What voice, Percy?" Annabeth asked, staring at the flowers.

"The voice! It said 'I'm right here.'"

"Uh...Seeweed Brain...are you okay?" Thalia asked.

"Yeah...but I swear I heard..."

Then I heard another chuckle.

"You know, he's not lying," the voice said. "It's just that you guys are all too cocky to believe him." The voice laughed.

I sat there astonished. Apparently, this time, everyone else heard the voice too because everybody started to come closer to me.

Then, suddenly, out of thin air, Luke appeared.

"Luke!"Mrs. Castellan gasped. "How did you do that?" she said as she approached him.

"Get away from him!"

"Why?" she asked.

But before I responded, someone else answered for me.

Kronos grabbed Mrs. Castellan, "Because Luke isn't here anymore," he said.

Mrs. Castellan fought to speak, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU? And what have you done with Luke?"

"Nothing that he didn't want," Kronos said.

I just sat there and couldn't do anything, until Thalia nudged me.

"We gotta do something!" Thalia whispered.

"I know!"

Kronos started to walk away, dragging Luke's mother, as he created his own warp hole.

"Well, it's being a blast, but I got to go," Kronos said.

"Wait...Why do you need Luke's mother?"

"Perseus, Perseus. Have you not understood yet? I thought you would have understood when you saw me at the fortress with the scythe. I drained Luke's life force long before and so this is not actually Luke's body. A poor, old, and frail Luke, begs daily to see his mom and, being the nice person that I am, I decided to grant his wish," Kronos said.

Okay...so I did not see that coming.

"Wait," I heard someone yell.

Annabeth.

"Leave her alone," she continued.

"And why should I?" Kronos asked.

"'Cause," Annabeth said. "It's not fair to involve her in your affairs."

Kronos considered this for a moment.

"Hmmmm..." he pondered. "Good point, I'll take you instead," Kronos said, as he threw Mrs. Castellan and grabbed Annabeth.

"ANNABETH!" I yelled as I ran for her.

Thalia caught Luke's mother as she fell back.

"I...I...I DON'T KNOW YOU ANYMORE, LUKE!!!" Mrs. Castellan yelled.

"Good...cause I never knew you anyways," Kronos smiled back as he disappeared through the wormhole with Annabeth.

"ANNABETH!"

"PERCY!!!" Annabeth yelled back.

Then, I did the stupidest thing. I jumped into the wormhole after them.


	16. I Get Sent to Jail with Ms Unbearable

**Chapter 16: I Get Sent to Jail with Ms. Unbearable**

I woke up, slowly. My back ached like crazy! I was all dizzy until I heard Kronos speak again.

"Oh, how good of you to join us, Perseus," he said.

I sat up and surveyed my surroundings, and noticed that I was in a jail. Kronos was standing outside with Annabeth bounded and gagged.

"Leave her alone!"

"Ah... Perseus, I would love to, so why don't you come get her instead?" he taunted as he walked off dragging Annabeth.

I stared at them until they were out of sight.

"ANNABETH!" I yelled, strangling the bars.

"Hold it, Seeweed Brain."

I turned around to find that Thalia was sitting right there the whole time.

"How did you get here?"

"I followed you through the wormhole," she said, thinking that it was the dumbest question ever.

"Why the hell did you do that?"

Although I was somewhat pleased with her eagerness to help me, I didn't think getting sent to jail with me would help bail me out.

"Chill! Gosh! Your mom gave me her cellphone, and they're tracking us with the GPS," Thalia said. "They'll be here eventually."

"Eventually is not soon enough."

I struggled to go see Annabeth, however, Thalia held me back.

"Just be patient, okay?" she said. "I'm as worried about her as you are."

That sounded pretty sincere to me.

"Fine."

Thalia continued, "Oh...and before you..."

"Too late..." I breather heavily.

Before she finished her sentence, I knocked her out with a club I found on the ground.

Oh...what've I done...?


	17. I Fall for a Classic Trap

**Chapter 17: I Fall For Classic Trap A: Cute Girl**

Knocking Thalia out was sooooo not the best thing I could've done. I'm probably REALLY going to get it from her later. Ouch. Didn't wanna think about it.

First, I had to find a way to break out of here. I looked around, no guards, duh. He _wanted_ me to go get him. I decided to use the classic approach: Use club to smash cell open. I figured that if the club was strong enough to knock the rock-head out, it was probably going to be strong enough to smash through these thin bars. So, I grabbed the club, backed up to the wall, and then ran for the bars. With one mighty swing against the cell, the club broke into tiny pieces. Great.

I leaned against the cell door as I sighed. Suddenly, I felt a falling sensation, and sure enough, I found myself on the floor in a mere 2 seconds. The door wasn't locked. Okay, that is really stupid of Kronos. Put someone in a cell without locking the door. Note to self: next time, try the door before running headfirst into a wall with a makeshift club.

I stepped outside, took one look back at Thalia to make sure that she wasn't totally out of it. I gritted my teeth and continued forward.

The passageway was relatively dark, so I could only see a couple meters in front of me. That really bothered me. I would probably never see a monster coming until I was dead.

Regardless, I kept walking. I would have thought that the hallway was shorter but it seemed endless, until I saw it. There was a sudden distinct boundary between the passageway, and what seemed to be a meadow.

Then, I saw her.

"Annabeth!"

I ran towards her.

She turned around as her hair blew in the wind... Wait...wind? We were in a tunnel, probably deep underground. I don't think there would be an incredibly strong draft of any kind.

Oh shoot. I tried to stop, but the grass was slippery? Oh shoot X2.

"It's okay, Perseus," Annabeth said in Kronos' voice.

"You."

"Yeah," Kronos laughed as he morphed back into his normal form. "You, really are a, Seeweed Brain, I believe it is, isn't that right, Perseus?"

I pulled out Riptide and went straight for him. He just stood there unmoving. Fine for me. Makes him an easier target. What I didn't expect was that I was walking into a trap.

A pitfall trap, specifically.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

That was one deep pitfall trap. Luckily, the ground wasn't hard like granite hard.

"Ow." I think I probably broke a few bones there.

I looked up.

Kronos laughed. "Seriously, Perseus, I thought you would've known better. I really enjoy making fun of you."

And that was the last thing I heard before I blacked out.


	18. A Difficult Position

**Chapter 18: A Difficult Position**

When I woke up, I couldn't move at all. As I opened my eyes, I found out that I was chained to a wall quite high off the ground. I took another glance around the room to find that Kronos was standing a couple of feet away from me holding Annabeth. Other than that, the room was pretty much empty.

Then I heard a voice, "P..percy..." a raspy voice came.

I looked down to see a fragile, old Luke sprawled on the floor.

The first thing that came to mind that I wanted to say to him was, YOU TRAITOR! But I didn't really think that would have been the right thing to say at the time. I kinda felt sorry for him for a second there.

"Trust me Percy, I didn't mean for any of this to happen," Luke continued. "He made me join him against my will, then he threw me aside and took my life force. Trust me Percy... This was never my choice from the very beginning."

Truthfully, I didn't really believe him, although he sounded pretty sorry and sincere. I decided that he wasn't going to be much of a factor now anyways since he couldn't do much in his current condition anyways.

"It's okay..." I whispered. "I believe you."

Then I heard that icy cold laugh again.

"Truly touching," Kronos said, "Two old friends catching up, it's almost funny. Oh, and you should believe him, Perseus, because he is actually telling you the truth."

I glared at Kronos.

"Unfortunately, your time is going to get cut short," Kronos continued.

"Wait...What did you do with Thalia?"

"Nothing much...In fact I don't know, I mean you were the one who had to knock her out... Truly amusing Perseus! The things you do for this insignificant girl here." Kronos laughed.

Annabeth glanced at me.

I shrugged back. This may set our relationship back a little.

"Anyways," Kronos continued. "You have thwarted my plans one too many times, Perseus Jackson! And today, shall be the end of that."

I gulped and decided to ask something anyways, "What you mean by that?"

"I mean..." Kronos said as he walked up to me... "I'm going to dispose of you."

Okay...shouldn't have asked.

"Well, Perseus...Do you want to do it the easy way, or the hard way?" he asked.

Oh great, another one of these rhetorical questions. I didn't answer.

"Okay then, let's try the easy way first, and if all fails, I have a Plan B," he said as he glanced over at Annabeth.

"You wouldn't..."

"Well, if you would go along with me, it'd be a lot easier, you know," Kronos said.

Oh shoot. He came up to me with his scythe held high, but before he could bring it down, I did something unexpected.

"ANNABETH!"

She stared at me, almost crying...

"I LOVE YOU!"

Kronos paused for a moment, laughing.

Annabeth tried to tell me something, but she was gagged and I couldn't hear her.

"Ah...two lovers' last moment together," he said. "Now this will be interesting..."

He brought the scythe down slowly.

At that split second of a moment, I felt a lot of pity.

Pity that I couldn't save the world.

Pity that I couldn't bring myself to tell Annabeth about my feelings for her until the very end.

Pity that I had to die.

And most importantly, pity that I couldn't save my friends.

I closed my eyes and prepared myself. At least Annabeth knew my true feelings for her.

Annabeth's POV – YAY! MY FIRST POV other than Percy!

"ANNABETH! I LOVE YOU!"

I turned, awestruck for a moment there. I've always considered Percy as more than just a companion, but I didn't know that he felt the same way.

"Oh Percy!" I tried to yell, half-crying. "I love you too!"

As the scythe descended to its mark, I burst out crying.


	19. Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

**Chapter 19: Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire**

I felt... a little itchy. I mean, I had prepared myself for excruciating pain followed by death but, I felt a strange tickling sensation.

I squirmed around. "That tickles!"

As I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Kronos' scythe coming down on me and I instantly shut my eyes again. After feeling nothing but a tickling sensation, I reopened them.

I realized Kronos was simultaneously bringing his scythe in and out of my body. It was actually pretty funny to watch.

He was in fact stabbing me continuously, but I felt nothing. It was only a little ticklish. Then I noticed that the part where his scythe touched was like water.

"No way! Cool." I had learned how to morph part of body into water.

Now I could get used to this. The invincible Percy Jackson, good thoughts.

I easily let most of my body condense into water and pulled my arms and legs easily out of the chains. I then fell to the floor.

"Hmph," Kronos said. "Looks like we'll have to move on to Plan B."

I was proud. I felt triumphant. Kronos couldn't hurt me, until I noticed where he was walking off to.

Annabeth.

"Oh shoot..."

"Oh yes," Kronos said. "You may be invulnerable physically, but emotionally, you're a big, fluffy pillow."

As much as I wanted to deny it. He was so right.

This game just got a lot more difficult.

"Oh, don't worry Perseus, I'm not EVIL," Kronos said. "I'll give you some time to make a decision."

I laughed at that remark, apparently, the titan lord who ate all his children (or attempted), vowed to overthrow Olympus, sucked the life out of an innocent demigod, threatening to kill my more than a friend friend and wanted to kill me with a scythe, wasn't evil. That's really...ironic.

"Let her go, Kronos."

"Uh...no," Kronos replied curtly, "Let's make this choice more interesting for you instead. Bring the prisoner in!"

I saw two large monsters bring in this large bag, approximately the size of a human and dumped the contents on the ground.

My mind froze when I saw who it was.

Oh shoot...

"You really are evil."

"You think so, Perseus?" Kronos asked as he laughed.

The person on the ground looked up at me.

"Percy!"


	20. I am VERY Screwed

**Chapter 20: I am VERY Screwed**

"Rachel?"

"Percy?" Rachel asked. "What's going on?"

"Rachel...uh..."

How the HELL was I gonna explain this to her? Um...you're standing beside an evil millenia year old god of time that wants to kill me and probably you and Annabeth too.

I didn't think that was going to help her.

"I'll explain later." I motioned subtly for her to get up and run.

She got the message and got up to start for the door.

"Wait..." Kronos said. "I don't think so."

With a whip of his scythe, not even staring at Rachel, he bound her just like he had done to Annabeth.

Okay, I am so screwed.

"Ah...Where were we, Perseus?" Kronos asked. "Right...let me ask you a question. Would you like me to take over Annabeth's body and kill Rachel or vice versa?"

I froze, pain-stricken at the thought that one of my dearest friends was going to have to die.

Rachel and Annabeth both gave me painful looks.

"Wait...Didn't you say you would give me time to decide?"

"True..." Kronos responded. "You got 5 minutes."

What the...? That's just cruel.

"That's just cruel!"

"Perseus...did I ever mention that I was nice?" Kronos asked.

Yeah, good point.

"Don't worry, I will be staging your final defeat, somewhere more suitable." Kronos said.

Kronos teleported us to an open field. I had no clue where we were whatsoever. However, all of it did seem quite familiar.

"Ah! The entrance to the Elysian Fields, your final resting place, Perseus Jackson," Kronos announced.

Oh right. The place where all fallen heros reside. A good place to die, if any.

"So, make your choice," Kronos said as he grinned.

I thought about this for a while...Annabeth, Rachel, Annabeth, Rachel... There was no way I could do this.

"If I trade my own life for them, will you let them go?"

"Hm...." Kronos thought. "Yeah...that'll do."

Kronos laughed.

"Ha! Finally...I am triumphant...!" Kronos said. "On his 16th birthday, Perseus Jackson makes his choice of a lifetime. Unfortunately, he's not going to live long enough to find out how wrong he was!"

Huh? Say wha? Today is my birthday? Seriously, I should really pay more attention to the dates.

No matter how wrong this decision was, it was what mattered to me the most.

"Let them go."

"No, I think I'll take over your body first," Kronos said.

What? Take over my body? I thought he was going to kill me.

"I thought you said you were going to kill me!"

"I know, but, I changed my mind. Luke's form is seriously lacking in style, and I'll have you know that you're a lot hotter," Kronos said.

Annabeth rolled her eyes at this comment.

As flattered as I was, I did not want to see myself being possessed by Kronos. The Elysian Fields, the worst place to be possessed by Kronos in front of.

"No way."

"You don't have a choice Perseus," he said as he merged himself with my body.

Oh crud. I turned and bolted. Yeah right like that was going to help.

I could feel Kronos' essence merge with mine. I tried to struggle for control but it was futile. Just a few seconds later, he had completely taken over my will.

There was only one thing I saw that pleased me, Annabeth was free, she had cut through her bindings with her knife and was now working on Rachel.

At least she could help me.

Yeah right, against Kronos, she was defenseless. I prayed for a miracle.


	21. The Plan, The Demigod and The Miracle

**Chapter 21: The Plan, The Demigod and The Miracle**

Oh yay! A miracle...

Too bad it wasn't going to last...

"Percy!" I heard someone yell.

I turned around, or no, Kronos turned around.

"Will you demigods please give a god bent on world domination some peace around here?" Kronos said. "Ah...sons..."

Sons? I thought. I looked through Kronos' eyes. Ah. He was referring to the Big Three. All the gods were there, including my father, Poseidon and Athena.

"Father..." Zeus grunted back.

More importantly, I looked to see who was calling my name: Nico. Thalia and Grover were there too.

"Percy!" Nico said as he ran up to me.

No, Nico! Stay back!

"Stand back son!" Hades yelled as he created a barrier between Nico and I.

I saw Nico shrink back in fear. He had a questioning look on his face.

"Percy...is not himself at the moment," my father explained, painfully.

I was forced to walk towards the crowd. Annabeth joined them, along with Rachel.

"People of Olympus," Kronos announced. "I have come to understand why you have rebelled against me for so long..."

Anyways, I don't bother with the details, but the speech was a decent 1 hr or so long.

I don't think any of the gods were listening.

I could hear my father's voice resonating in my head.

"Percy! The sand dollar!" Poseidon said.

The wha?

"The sand dollar!" he repeated.

Right, that thing. I recalled back to when my father had first handed to me. I was thinking, how the hell was this gonna help me? Not that I would dare say that, but...I seriously questioned his logic here. Unless it was a doomsday machine for evil gods, I really doubt it would help me.

"Yeah, seriously, I doubt this er...thing, will help me out, father."

"Just use it!" he said, a little stubborn.

"Right...er...how?"

"Pour your soul into it," Poseidon continued.

Great more Yoda. Be one with the force. Stuff like that. Made total sense to me.

I concentrated on the sand dollar for a decent 5 min. By now, Kronos was on the closing statements of his speech.

"Join me, and I shall liberate this world," Kronos said.

Ugh...I can't believe I was the one who said that.

Crickets chirped. I saw all the gods glance over to Luke on the floor. Hermes looked down in disappointment.

Anyways, I saw the image of the sand dollar in my head. I concentrated on it for a long time. It felt like almost forever. Suddenly, I felt my body get really light.

"No!" Kronos shouted. "This can't be happening!"

Okay...the next series of events were really creepy and I can't even bring myself to describe them. Kronos was literally, purged from my body. He took on a gaseous state and drifted to far away from the Olympians. My body slowly began to settle down and I began to regain control.

I looked to my father for an answer.

"It's a charm, purges any non-creature of the sea, right out," my father said. Poseidon smiled.

Okay, so it wasn't an evil god doomsday machine, but it was the next best thing.

We defeated Kronos.

"Um..I'm right here," came the evil, sinister voice, staring at me just about 5m away.

Correction. Two seconds ago, we HAD defeated Kronos.

How many times does an immortal god have to be immortal anyways?

"It's over Kronos, you're outnumbered."

Annabeth came to my side, along with Nico and Thalia.

"Yeah...that's where you're sorely mistaken," Kronos said while snickering.

He summoned all the monsters that we had ever encountered or defeated.

The Minotaur was there, so was Arachne from that bus incident, and a lot of other beasts that I didn't care to remember the names of.

Oh crud.

"Nico, what about the plan?" I whispered.

He shrugged at me, "You know the River Lethe is this river we're standing beside?"

"Oh, that's nice to know, that means Kronos can wipe out all of our memories with a single wave."

Oh crud...again...

At least we might stand a chance...possibly...probably...unlikely....

Sometimes I wished I had been born on the Titan side of the family.


	22. I Make a Grave Mistake in Choice

**Chapter 22: I Make a Grave Mistake in Choice**

You know how annoying it is to have the monsters, disappear, then reappear, the disappear again, only to find that they reappear in mere seconds.

Normally, these mere seconds would have been years, but Kronos being the God of Time, liked to speed things up. At least, that was my reasoning to why Arachne and the giant giant were there.

I got my second clue when we started the fight.

As the Olympians charged against the Titans, you couldn't really determine if we were going to win or lose. Except, the only difficulty was that the monsters would shrink to dust and then reappear in exactly the same place. With the Olympians, it was if you fell down, it was "man down." Very sad, I tried not to think about it.

Instead, I fought on hard. Nico and I both saw the same monster: the Minotaur. We ran up to the big creature and brought our swords down, hard. The Minotaur immediately faded to dust, only to find that it reappeared again. I just held my sword there laughing, because the Minotaur would reappear and fade, reappear and fade.

"Thalia, look!"

I saw Thalia glance over. She blinked her eyes as the Minotaur reappeared and faded simultaneously. She laughed.

"Focus on the battle Thalia!" Zeus roared.

"Yes father," I heard her murmur.

Out of nowhere, this random monster lashed at my hand.

"Ow," I cried as I dropped Riptide.

I willed for my hand to turn to water and using it, I reached out and grabbed for Riptide.

As soon as the monster realized what I was doing, he backed off.

Too late. I grabbed Riptide and whipped the "water hand" around to hit the monster.

Bullseye.

The monster immediately faded to dust. I backed off, just in case it was going to reform again.

"Percy," I heard someone call. "Do the wave!"

The wha? I quickly turned around to see that it was Annabeth. She showed me a diving position. I didn't really quite get what she was getting at.

Right, the water...stupid me.

I quickly moved the water from the River Lethe onto the shore.

"Fall back!" Annabeth yelled.

Yeah, probably should have done that before telling me to wipe them out with a wave.

I couldn't just hold the water in mid-air. Yet, it was right above half the Olympians, and we would be facing a major memory loss problem if I dropped the wave.

Strange, this water wasn't usually this heavy, what's wrong with me?

I scanned across the field looking for possible obstructions. Then, it hit me.

Kronos, duh.

By now, I was struggling to keep the water up, Annabeth had almost rallied most of the Olympians, including the campers out of there and was making her way back.

Unfortunately, she never got there.

Kronos pushed the water down and I gave up trying to keep it there. It swamped, right over most of the monsters, and carried them off, far away.

Annabeth never made it to safety. I kept the water from carrying her off too far, but she still got hit by the water.

Annabeth got up after the wave and walked to the middle of the field. Everybody was concentrated on her.

"Where am I?" she asked.

I just stood there. I couldn't do anything to save her. Well, at least not currently.

"Nico, the flower thing."

Nico nodded and he marched off.

"Annabeth." I marched forward.

"Wait...who are y...?" Annabeth said.

She was caught in mid-sentence, because then, her body started to jiggle wildly. Her gray eyes faded into a cold, dark black colour.

Oh no. I backed off.

"Once again Perseus, you have given me the perfect opportunity. By wiping out her memory, she has no will of her own whatsoever to resist me," Kronos said. "Athena, she is your most prized possesion, is she not?"

Athena gritted her teeth.

"Now then, if anybody moves except Perseus, I'll make her kill herself," he said.

Zeus grabbed a lightning bolt.

"Why you..." Zeus whispered.

Annabeth immediately brought her own sword up to her throat.

Athena held Zeus back.

Annabeth lowered her sword.

"I serve only Kronos," she whispered. "I am loyal only to the Titan Lord."

"No, Annabeth!"

"Now, Perseus, will you entertain me? If you kill yourself, I'll let your friend here go. Now, if you decide to kill her...well, that would be most entertaining," Kronos said.

Annabeth began approaching me with her sword in hand.

"No, Annabeth. I don't want to fight you."

"Not an option," she said coldly.

"Snap out of it." She continued to approach me.

"Snap out of what?" she asked as she began swinging her sword cleverly at me.

"Please, Annabeth, come back to me."

"Seriously, Perseus, you really are funny," she yelled.

Annabeth laughed an evil laugh.

Ugh. I couldn't take it anymore. I covered my ears and rolled around on the ground.

"I give up Kronos. I'll kill myself. Let her go."


	23. My Own Failure

**Chapter 23: My Own Failure**

"What, Perseus? I couldn't hear you," Kronos said.

"I said, I give up Kronos. I WILL KILL MYSELF, NOW LET HER GO!"

I screamed on the top of my lungs. I think even Kronos was flattered after that.

"Meh...Suits me just fine," Kronos said.

"NO!" my father yelled.

There was a silence. My father began to move towards me.

Kronos pointed to Annabeth, "I don't think you wanna do that...son..."

Annabeth's sword was at her throat again.

My father disregarded the whole thing.

"No, don't you dare do it Poseidon," Athena said calmly.

Athena threw up a massive barrier between the Olympians and me.

Whoa. Massive barrier. I would almost think that Athena cared about Annabeth...more than I...cared about her... My father broke the silence.

"DON'T DO IT, PERCY! This is the most important choice of your lifetime! Do not make a choice you will regret. Your hour of birth is near, DON'T MAKE THE WRONG CHOICE!" he yelled.

"Hurry up already, Perseus!" Kronos said. "If you don't kill yourself now, I will make Annabeth kill herself, and you wouldn't want that would you?"

There was nothing I could do. I had no choice. I tried to stall to give Nico more time, but the more time I wasted, the more danger Annabeth was in. I could see the sword in slow-motion, getting closer and closer to her throat.

I couldn't do anything else. I had absolutely no choice in this matter.

Kronos had forced me into a corner and I was a sitting duck. I felt helpless.

Honestly, I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to have to do this.

I just screamed. I couldn't take this burden.

"You're right father. I can't make the wrong choice. The fate of the world depends on it."

I turned to face Kronos.

"Swear it on the River Styx and your life that you will let Annabeth Chase go, when I kill myself!"

"Yeah...fine," Kronos said. "I swear on the River Styx and my life that I'll let your girlfriend go when you die."

The word 'girlfriend' didn't even bother me at this point in time. I didn't even think about it.

I heard a lot of yelling in the distance, "NO! PERCY! NO! Don't do it!"

I didn't even care to know who it was. I had made my decision, whether it was going to save the Gods or destroy them, I had no idea. I couldn't care less. Right now, it was all about...her.

I thought back to all the good times Annabeth and I had together, like back to when I had first met her, when I first went on my first quest with her, when we had rescued Clarisse and Thalia together on the quest for the Golden Fleece, when Annabeth had given me the envious look after the Rachel/Calypso incidents and when she gave me that nice big smile everytime she would say 'Seeweed Brain'.

I broke into tears. "I'm so sorry...Annabeth..." I coughed.

And then, I stabbed myself.


	24. When All Seems Lost

**Chapter 24: When All Seems Lost...**

Athena's POV

I looked to Poseidon in pity as the kid fell to the ground. The sword was still in his chest and he was bleeding massively.

"Annabeth dear, better stab him a few more times to make sure that he is good and dead," Kronos said.

How could he be so heartless?

"Wait..." I shouted.

Everybody looked back at me.

"But you swore that you'd release her!" I yelled.

"Oh yeah, that," Kronos said. "I lied."

I already knew he would say that after, but somehow I just couldn't take it. That kid, Percy, I believe it was, sacrificed himself for my daughter. Why?

I couldn't even come close to describing my anger in words. I just stood there helplessly clenching my fists.

"I'm...sorry...Poseidon..." was all I could blurt out.

No response. I didn't blame him.

Then, all of sudden, I saw this whirl of black fly right by me. I looked back to quickly realize that it was Hades' kid, Nico.

What was he trying to do?

"The battle's over son, we've lost. Your friend is dead," I said to him sadly.

"What? Percy's dead?" he asked.

I nodded. I watched him silently for a short while, until he finally responded.

"Well, that may be true," he said, fighting back tears, "but we haven't lost yet. Percy would want us to continue."

As much as I appreciated his courage, there was no way he would make a difference.

"We've lost already," I said sadly.

"Not yet," he said back, grinning. "We've still got my sword."

I rapidly turned around again, checking out where his sword was flying.

Then, it hit me. Annabeth.

"What?" I asked. "Are you mad? Stop the sword!"

"Too late," he said, grinning again.

The Stygian iron sword whizzed right past all the Olympians and headed straight for Annabeth.

Without even turning around, Annabeth just side-stepped to dodge it.

I frowned.

"Wait...for it..." Nico said.

Annabeth started to shudder.

"Ugh...dammit...GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" she yelled, kneeling on the floor.

"See?" Nico told me.

"Wait...how can that be?" I asked.

Nico explained about how he had done an experiment with Percy earlier during the quest and that the flower was the only way to retain your memory after you lose it to the river's waters.

"I bound the flowers to the sword, so even if she managed to dodge it, she would most likely get grazed by the flowers," Nico said.

"Oh...That surprisingly makes a lot of sense," I said.

It was the first time that anyone, let alone a demigod had made me feel intellectually challenged.

"Now," Nico continued. "She has the will to fight Kronos' control."

I quickly shifted my attention back to Annabeth.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD, KRONOS!" she yelled, grabbing her forehead.

I saw Kronos back off for a second there and then he screamed.

"Her will...its overpowering me..." Kronos said.

"Honestly, father, give her a chance will you?" a voice suddenly said.

I looked up...oh my god...Hestia!

"Give the girl a chance!" Hestia yelled.

"What are you doing here?" Kronos asked.

"Nothing, I was bored," Hestia said calmly. "Just let her go dad, I've never even seen you sink to the likes of this to defeat the Olympians. Sheesh."

"Will nothing please you?" Kronos asked. "Fine, anything to make you leave. I'll let her go, but then leave! This battle doesn't concern you."

"Agreed," Hestia said, and then, she left.

Wow. What a disfunctional family.

That was a most unexpected turn of events. I watched as Annabeth's eyes were returning to their normal colour and she was slowly regaining control.

Annabeth's POV

As I regained my control, I could barely remember anything. My eyes slowly adjusted to the light and then I saw something that tore my heart apart.

"OH MY GOD! PERCY!" I screamed.

I knelt down and scanned him quickly. No doubt about it...he was...dead.

"PERCY!!!!! WAKE UP DAMMIT!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

No way, it wasn't possible. I couldn't possibly let myself believe that it was possible. Percy, couldn't be dead.

The whole battlefield was silent. Everyone was most likely fixed on the real live soap opera that Annabeth was putting on. Even Kronos, didn't care to care. He just stood there.

Why Percy? Why him? I tried my absolute hardest not to cry, but I couldn't hold it back. I just couldn't.

"Percy.." I cried, "You shouldn't have...you should not have.....why did you?"

A large tear dropped straight from my face.

"I'm sorry Percy!" I continued.

Another one fell.

"Percy! It's all my fault!"

Drip, drop.

"I was too weak..."

More tears fell.

"Give me...GIVE ME A SECOND CHANCE, PERCY!!!"

A rain of teardrops left my eyes, but I could never wish Percy back to life.

I thought it was hopeless, and turned around to walk away, but all of a sudden...

I heard a voice. "Wha...Whaddya need a second chance for, Wise Girl?"


	25. I Pay for My Idiocy

**Chapter 25: I Pay for My Idiocy**

As I opened my eyes, I saw Annabeth bent over me crying.

"Give me...GIVE ME A SECOND CHANCE, PERCY!!!" Annabeth cried.

I lied there, questioning her sanity.

"Wha...Whaddya need a second chance for, Wise Girl?"

"PERCY!" she yelled as she turned to me again.

"Well, who did you think it was? Sheesh."

"But you were dead 2 seconds ago," Annabeth said. "I saw it."

Yeah, that's what I thought too. It was nice to be dead, you didn't have to worry about love, hatred, or immortal millenia year old evil gods taking over the universe. I shot a look at Kronos. He was just sitting there, twiddling his thumbs.

That's when I noticed something I really didn't want to know. I tried to get up, but there was a stinging pain in my chest. Ouch.

"Ow."

"Are you okay, Percy?" Annabeth asked.

Truthfully, no. That scar burned like HELL.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Can't you do something about the scar?" she asked.

Right...I had forgotten about the water-body thingy. I struggled for a moment, and...

"Nothing?" she asked.

I shook my head. The pain was burning even worse now.

"Argh...!"

"What, Percy?" Annabeth asked.

My dad strolled over casually, "The 'water-body thingy' is called Aquetis. It's a special ability that is found extremely rarely, even in my offspring, but, the user will require a lot of water from other parts of his/her body to turn a certain body part to water."

Aquetis...nice ring to it, although offspring sounded a little...harsh...

"Then why can't Percy heal himself?" Annabeth asked.

"It's because he's lost too much water, he's almost gone dry," he announced.

Oh...so this is how it feels like to be in the Sahara desert...feels like you're half-dead.

"Demigods can go dry?"

"As of now, I guess so," my father said.

Okay...better jot that down...drink lots of water just in case you go dry one day...

"I doubt anybody has a bottle of water down here."

"Yeah, that's true," Annabeth nodded sadly.

A ray of bright light flashed in our eyes.

"Water, well why didn't you just say so?" the woman asked.

"HESTIA! BE GONE!" Kronos yelled.

Hestia completed ignored her father. "Well, I always carry fresh water around, so here."

I watched silently as she dumped some water on my scar. My strength was returning, I felt completely recharged. I felt like I could even take down Kronos and pack him into a 4 by 4 box with my bare hands.

Then again, fantasies are fantasies.

"Thank you, Hestia."

"No problem," she said, smiling.

"HESTIA!!! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE MY DAUGHTER. YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO HELP MY ENEMIES!!! LEAVE THIS PLACE! NOW!" Kronos screamed.

"Yes father," she said.

She turned once again to me, "You know, Percy Jackson, you're a funny guy."

I'll....let that pass and take it as a compliment.

And then she disappeared once again in the blink of an eye.

After Hestia left, I got up confidently.

"Your army's gone now Kronos, who will you fight with?"

I smiled. It was good to be on the Olympian side. On Olympian side, you no die. That was good enough for me.

"You're done, Kronos, give up."

"Never," he replied.

"Fine, that works too."

Athena put up a massive barrier on us once again, and I looked to my dad for confirmation. He nodded.

We began to move the water from both sides of Kronos. At first, it was just a little wave, but soon, the water expanded to a wave of humongous proportions.

"Oh no," Kronos cried.

I could tell that he tried with all his might to hold the wave up, just like I had been doing before. But, unfortunately for him, against my dad and I, he was overpowered.

Zeus and Thalia added to the fun by making it rain thunderbolts.

Nico and Hades summoned some undead warriors for Kronos to worry about.

And in no time at all, he gave up. He just stopped resisting.

"You haven't seen the last of me, yet, Perseus!" he said.

The waves fell over him, yet, he stayed put in the exact same place he was in.

All the gods paused to view the effect of their war effort.

Kronos just stood there silently, and if he wasn't talking, I would assume that he had forgotton how to make long speeches.

YES! Everyone started celebrating, we were successful!

I went up to Kronos and stuck my tongue at him. Actually, I still have no idea why I did that. It's not my character at all...

Anyways, I have regrets, that was stupid.

Because at that moment, Kronos swung his arm out and grabbed my throat.

"Did you honestly think it would be that easy, Perseus?" he taunted.

O crud.

I think that's my record. Three 'Oh Cruds' in a day.


	26. The Ultimate TrapFallerIntoer

**Chapter 26: The Ultimate Trap-Faller-Into-er**

Seriously, I could swear that I've fallen into his traps 1000 times more than anyone else that every existed.

"How?"

I stared at Kronos, dumbfounded as my feet dangled in the air helplessly.

"Did you honestly think that it would be that easy?" Kronos asked, questioning my sanity.

Well...yeah...kind of... As far as I knew, Nico never informed me that gods might be immune to memory loss. I looked back to Nico for an answer. Strange, he wasn't there.

Kronos shook me back to reality.

"This time," he said, "You're not getting away."

I snickered. It seems he forgot about my special ability. I struggled to make my throat turn to water.

"Think again, Kronos!"

Kronos stared at me questioningly. Wait...for some dumb reason, he was still holding me by the throat.

"Oh yeah, Perseus," Kronos said, "I've disabled all of your little powers for the time being."

Probably should have mentioned that earlier. How do you even disable a person's powers?

"Now, Perseus, try to get out of this!" he cried.

He grabbed his scythe and brought it down on me. Once again, everybody was silent.

Come on peoples, a little help here would be nice. Nothing. Oh well.

I closed my eyes trying desperately to get my powers to work...once again absolutely nothing. I seriously hoped I didn't have to die on my birthday.

As a last resort, I pulled out Riptide to try and defend myself...but...I was slightly late.

I felt a quick slash of air pass right by me.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


	27. Villain's Fatal Flaw

**Chapter 27: Villain's Fatal Flaw**

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

That was surprisingly not painful. All I felt was his hand brush against my side.

I paused there, quite confused. I was kinda scared of what I would see if I opened my eyes, but I decided to open them anyways.

"What? No!" Kronos said angrily. "Where's my scythe?"

Wha...did he just say?

"Where's my scythe?" Kronos repeated furiously.

That's new. I don't really know how you can just lose your weapon when it was in your hands 2 seconds ago, but then again, I've never been good with keeping hold of stuff, so I shouldn't really complain. I expected it to be the work of a god...er...Zeus maybe?

That's when it happened. Time passed very quickly in those few seconds. Kronos threw me aside, scanning for his scythe.

Dumb move. Seriously, sometimes I think I could make a better villain than him.

Because at that moment, I grabbed hold of Riptide and lashed at him.

"No...no...it can't be!" he stuttered. "It's...it's not possible!"

He glared at me angrily, but he couldn't do anything about it. It looked like he was immoblized my pain.

"NO!" Kronos shrieked, "It can't be!"

Slowly, Kronos crumbled into sands and fell on the ground. Dust scattered everywhere. Awkward.

I stood there in disbelief, yet also feeling proud of myself. Pride is something that's really short-term for me. It lasted for about a decent minute until someone completed crushed my self esteem.

When the dust faded, I saw Nico holding the scythe right where Kronos had been standing. I guessed that Nico had silently yanked the scythe right out of Kronos' hand and used it on him or something. There goes my god theory. Meh...Nico had always been a sly one, but still, you had to admit that was pretty skilled. Anyone who can take a villain's weapon right out of their hands without them noticing gets my vote.

I felt a short rush of depression. There goes my hero mojo. It sucks the most when you think you saved the day, but then someone else, looking cool, steps in. Thankfully, Nico decided to rescue me from my state of depression.

"Nice job with the distraction, Percy," Nico said.

What was he talking about? Oh...that...right...

"Yeah, I...uh...meant to do that."

I stared down at Kronos...or, what was left of him.

"He's gone," I stated bluntly, "We've won." I was sure this time.

"Yeah..." Nico replied.

Absolute silence, and then...there was a sudden burst of happiness.

"Yeah!" I heard people cry. "We did it! Kronos has been defeated."

I saw people getting up and dancing. Others were talking with their friends. Some were tending to the wounded, but above all, everyone was alive...no, correction..._she_ was alive.

I glanced towards Annabeth. She met my eyes for a minute. I smiled. She looked at me, and smiled back.

I walked a few steps over to her.

"Hey Anna..."

But before I could finish my sentence, someone swept me up and carried me over to the rest of the party. I stared at Annabeth, but she seemed distracted by something else. She stared off into space.

Hades. Sheesh, I don't think he really understands love.

Aphrodite looked at me and giggled. How difficult did she want my love life to be?

Hades put me down as he spoke, "I'll be taking the remains of Kronos down to a maximum security cell in Tartarus. I'll join the rest of you shortly on Mount Olympus for a celebration."

Everybody cheered. Remind me why I had to be here for this?

I looked back at Annabeth. She was running towards someone who wasn't quite visible to me but I ran after her.

"Hey Anna..."

"Oh, Percy!" my dad called.

I turned back. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE GODS? WHY DID THEY ALWAYS HAVE THE WORST TIMING? I cursed Aphrodite in my head.

"Yeah, dad?"

"You did good Percy, you did good," my dad stated.

"Thanks dad."

A compliment from him was almost as priceless as a smile on Annabeth's face.

I turned around to face Annabeth. Poseidon seemed to recognize my emotions.

"Go ahead Percy," he urged. "I'll see you at the party."

"Thanks dad."

I started walking towards Annabeth, only to realize who she was talking to.


	28. Is This What They Call Heartbroken?

**Chapter 28: I Think This is What They Call Heartbroken**

Yeah...I've never actually known what it feels like when your heart breaks, but I'd say this is pretty close.

Luke? Why him? He's old, and frail and well...I could think of a lot of words to describe him with, none of which were quite nice.

I awkwardly approached them.

"Are you okay? Luke?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah," he answered quietly. "Not at my best I'm afraid but I'm fine."

Was that supposed to be a joke?

"Hey...uh...Annabeth."

"Oh," she said as she looked up, "Hey, Percy."

Once again, awkward silence.

"So, uh...better get going, wouldn't want to miss the celebration up on Mount Olympus!"

"Yeah..." she said, "What are we gonna do about Luke?"

Pfft...just leave him there. My conscience was fighting with me. _That's...evil..._ True...

"I don't know."

I pulled Annabeth away from him.

"What can we do? I mean I'm pretty sure we can't transport him in this state."

"Hm..." Annabeth thought, "Maybe the gods can...?"

"Can...what?"

"Maybe the gods can fix him up or something..." she suggested.

As much as I didn't want that, I wanted to please Annabeth.

"Okay..."

I sighed. I was probably gonna get reprimanded for this.

"Yo, Zeus! We're kinda in a pickle here. Need your help."

Honestly, I hated that guy. Voted in favour of disintegrating me quite a few times.

Zeus turned around angrily. "If you're going to ask for a god's help, address him properly...PERSEUS."

"Please!" Annabeth begged. "We need your help. Is it possible for you to help Luke...in any way?"

Since when did a child of Athena suck up to Zeus?

"Aphrodite, uh...Demeter...could you women come over here for a second?" Zeus boomed.

"Yeah?" Aphrodite asked impatiently, while looking at her own reflection in the water.

Demeter glided over silently.

"Uh...we're gonna need to fix him up," Zeus said.

"Ooh! Goody goody!" Aphrodite said as her eyes lit up brightly. "A makeover!"

I groaned loudly. Luckily, I don't think she heard.

Aphrodite muttered, "Ooh! A little tuck there, snip there and voila!"

Aphrodite snapped her fingers, and immediately, Luke regained his original form.

"Are you okay now?" Annabeth asked.

"I still feel quite frail," Luke said.

Demeter hummed a short tune, and a bright light started to shine on Luke. He was lifted into the air and gently set back down again.

"How are you feeling?" Annabeth asked him.

"Great!" he said. He stretched out his whole body.

The gods left us alone. Annabeth hugged Luke.

I turned around sadly. I didn't want to see the rest. I marched away with the rest of the campers.

All I heard was, "Let's go Luke..."

"Uh...yeah...I just wanted you to know, I love you Annabeth," Luke said.

Yeah...I have to admit...I cracked at that. I burst into tears behind Annabeth's back.


	29. I am Given a Chance

**Chapter 29: I am Given a Chance**

This is a sad day in my life, not because I didn't get to be the hero, not because my dad didn't praise me and most certainly not because I wouldn't get to fight Kronos in my life. It was plainly because...well...she...

The rest of the way to the Empire State Building, or Mount Olympus was pretty silent. Annabeth, Luke and I brought up the rear of the party. I tried to keep just slightly in front of Annabeth and Luke so that I wouldn't have to see their faces.

I glanced back once in a while to observe the situation, until I saw it, they _held hands_.

I could feel myself moaning in pain and humiliation in my head, but physically, I never made a peep, ever.

Of all the fiction stories I've read, I would normally get the girl. Not Luke. Seriously, anyone, but Luke, preferably me.

As all the gods and demigods made their way to the top of the Empire State Building, I bustled up to the front to avoid Annabeth.

"Wait! Percy!" I heard her yell.

I didn't care anymore. She had made her decision, and I had made mine. I met up with Thalia, Nico and Grover.

"Hey, Percy, what's up?" Grover asked, "Is something wrong?"

Duh...empathy link...wouldn't you know what was wrong anyways? I wanted to yell back at him.

Instead, I chose more comfortable words, "I'm fine Grover, just a little bit tired, and...frustrated."

Grover looked carefully at me, then back at Annabeth.

"Ah...girl trouble I see," Grover whispered. "You know she wants you, you're just too oblivious to notice the changes."

"Thanks," I mumbled.

There was no way that was possible. I felt miserable, but that was never enough for Thalia. She needed to push me to the very bottom.

Thalia burst out laughing. "No way!" she said, staring back at Annabeth.

I looked to Nico for support. He shrugged silently.

When we got to the throne room, the gods were all seated in their appropriate chairs. Everyone crowded into the room and stood silently, waiting for instructions.

"Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Luke Castellan, Thalia of the Hunters, Nico di Angelo and Grover Underwood, come forth," Zeus' voice boomed.

The crowd made an opening for us. You'd think we were celebrities at the time. We made our way to the front. I never even glanced at Annabeth, instead I looked to Grover. He sighed in disbelief.

Zeus began his long speech, "We are gathered here today to celebrate a most extraordinary occasion. Kronos, father of the gods, lord of the Titans, has once again been defeated."

Cheers erupted at this comment. Zeus raised a hand and everybody fell silent.

He continued, "The demigods' assistance has proved, once again, invaluable to our successes. Perseus Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Thalia, Nico di Angelo and Grover Underwood, are whom to which we may give our deepest and most sincere gratitude."

There was a lot of clapping. I think I heard Silena Bureaugard cheering in the distance.

"Luke Castellan!" Zeus yelled.

"Yes sir," Luke replied in a courteous manner.

"You have been branded as a traitor, who although did not succumb to Kronos' will of his own accord, still proved invaluable to Kronos' plans," Zeus stated.

Luke nodded sadly.

"However," Zeus continued. "As you were only helping my father unconsciously, we will take a vote on your innocence of this matter. All in favour of incineration?"

A few hands went up, including Ares, and Hades. Ares grunted madly. I was mad too, mad that Zeus would rather incinerate me than Luke.

"Honestly, the boy is a BIG, FAT traitor!" Ares ennouciated clearly.

For once, I agreed with Ares, but I swear a few gods looked to him and almost burst out laughing. Um...Hades' helmet of darkness and Zeus' lightning bolt ringing bells much?

Zeus glared at Ares with animosity, and he immediately fell silent.

"I believe he deserves a second chance," my father stated calmly.

"All in favour?" Zeus asked.

Tons of hands shot up. Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Artemis and Demeter. Aphrodite was too busy with her face and Dionysius, as always, abstained.

"Very well, then, Luke Castellan, I hereby clear you of all charges," Zeus said.

Luke looked overjoyed and smiled at Annabeth. There were even more cheers.

"Let the festivities begin!" Zeus roared and with a snap of his fingers, the whole room transformed into a party-like state.

Annabeth's POV

"May I have this dance?" Luke asked.

I looked towards Percy, he was walking away quickly, as if he just wanted to avoid me.

"Thanks Luke! But uh...I already have someone in mind," I replied.

Luke glanced towards Percy too.

"I see..." he replied. "Well I'm not going to hold you back if that's what you really want, go for it."

I nodded in gratitude.

"PERCY!!!!"


	30. Confession

**Chapter 30: Confession**

"PERCY!!!" I heard a voice call.

I turned around.

"Annabeth?"

"No duh...Seeweed Brain, who else?" she asked.

I smiled.

"Whaddya want now, Wise Girl?"

I tried my best to maintain a smile.

"Wanna dance?" she asked.

I froze. Kiss? Wasn't that a bit extreme? Wouldn't Luke disapprove?

"You wanna kiss?" I asked her dumbfounded.

"I said 'dance,'" Annabeth replied curtly, "Hey, but if you really like me...I'm up for a kiss."

Me and my short attention span.

"But, I thought..."

"Do you ever think? The only reason I avoided you was because I was afraid that things might get out of hand between us," Annabeth said. "I wouldn't want to ruin our friendship."

Really? Seriously? I never knew.

"I...I...I love you...Annabeth..."

She giggled, "I know you do."

"May I have this dance?"

"Sure...ain't got nothing better to do." she said.

We both burst out laughing.

I glanced quickly at Aphrodite. She winked back. Then, I made my way to look at Athena. She stared right back at me with her cold, stone, gray eyes, but then I swear, I saw the slightest curt nod. Oh who the hell cared, a nod was a nod, even if it was a curt nod.

I almost burst into tears of happiness.

"What are you doing, Seeweed Brain?" she asked, "You look like an idiot who's about to cry."

Totally true, but I was totally not going to admit that.

"You need to get your eyes checked!" I teased.

And with that, Annabeth swept me onto the dance floor.

"Honestly, Wise Girl, I can't dance."

"Too bad, you can now!" she said as she went into an awkward position for me.

I glanced around the room, everybody just looked so....calm... I quite enjoyed it actually. Grover was off waltzing on his on. Nico was just sitting in the corner, but yet I could still sense that he was in the party mood. Thalia was talking to Artemis with Luke right beside her. I spat in disgust at that name, but I figured I needed to give him more credit. Artemis nodded lightly and I saw Thalia run off to hug Luke.

That caught my interest. I motioned to Annabeth for us to make our way over there. She nodded.

I ran up to Thalia, surprised by her face all of a sudden. "Whoa!"

"What's wrong?" Thalia asked, squeezing Luke in the process.

"Er...since when did you age?"

"Since I quit the Hunters," she replied.

"You quit...the HUNTERS?" I laughed. "No wonder you look like you're 30!"

Should not have said that.

I felt a hard smack come down on my face.

"Ow..."

Annabeth rolled her eyes at me. "Honestly, if there's one thing you never discuss with women, it's their age. Sheesh."

It didn't matter to me though. The four of us burst out laughing shortly.

"Excuse me," a voice said, "Mind if I borrow Percy for a moment?"

I did a 180 to find that it was my dad.

"Oh hey dad."

He looked down at me with a questionable stare in his eyes.

"Sure, no problem," Thalia said, as she dragged Annabeth and Luke away with her.

As soon as they were gone, I started with my long train of questions.

"Uh...what's wrong?"

"No, it's just I thought for a split second, I swear...I....nah...forget it, it's nothing," he said.

Indecision with the gods...not a particularly good sign.

"Is there anything you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yes...in fact there is," he replied, with glowing eyes. "I can feel your hatred towards Luke."

"Is is THAT bad?" I asked sarcastically.

He didn't laugh, instead, he pressed on.

"Seriously Percy, you have no reason to be angry with him," he said solemnly.

I could think of a lot of reasons though.

"Percy, I don't want the rest of your life to be bent on revenge when he did nothing wrong in the first place," he continued.

"My life isn't bent on revenge, it hadn't even crossed my mind!"

Well, maybe it had...just for a few little seconds, possibly...

"Give him a little time Percy, he'll warm back up to you eventually," my dad said with a wink.

It's like the whole world was against me, not that I really cared. I assumed the cookies on the Dark Side really were quite tempting.

"Got it...I'll try to keep that in mind."

"Well then, I'll leave you to it," my dad said.

He walked off, mumbling to himself.

Athena stormed over to me immediately.

Uh oh. I braced myself for the worse.

"Let's make this brief," she said calmly. "I have said once that I don't particularly approve of your relationship with my daughter..."

Nice choice of word: relationship.

"However," she continued, "I trust her enough that I understand she won't do anything stupid or make a wrong choice in her life. But!"

Long but. I didn't even try to get a word in edgeways.

"But! If you do end up doing something to her, you'll regret it." she stated as she glared at me.

I gulped and nodded.

"Have a nice day," she greeted.

I watched as she turned and walked away. Annabeth and the others ran back to me.

"Well, party's almost over," she said, "Let's go back to camp."

"Okay," I said...relieved I had made some progress.

This was going to end well.


	31. Bad Day, by Percy Jackson

**Chapter 31: Bad Day, by Percy Jackson**

Remember when I said yesterday, that this was going to end well? Well, I was wrong. This was going to end horribly.

I groaned. It was pouring really hard at camp today...quite ironic actually.

I had done something really bad at camp today, I just couldn't get over it. Inexcusable. Unforgivable. Even I wouldn't DARE stoop that low.

I wasn't going to attend the Capture the Flag game later, if it weren't for a plea from my apparent 'girlfriend'.

It was that bad. What happened to cause this? Not much...just one simple accident...a 'misflick' of the wrist...with my enemy.

Yesterday, I had quite a bright lookout on things. Love was smooth, the weather was good...etc.

Today, was uh...quite different. First off, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Somehow, I twisted and turned so much that I fell off the bed.

"Ow."

That, wasn't the worst of it.

"OH DAMMIT! My birthday was yesterday! Mom?"

I looked around my cabin for a golden drachma. Found none. My mom was probably worried sick. I was never not home for my birthday. I prayed for a miracle at the fountain.

Plop.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a golden drachma, in the fountain. The impeccable timing the gods had sometimes...

"Thanks dad," I muttered.

I sent an Iris-Message to my mom, not surprised to find that Paul was there too.

"Uh...Sally...?" Paul said, pointing at the glass.

"Huh?" she asked as she turned to face me. "Oh hey Percy!"

Good, no yelling.

"PERCY!" she yelled like a split second later, "Where are you young man? Do you have any idea how worried I am? Why weren't you here for your birthday? Paul and I spent AGES preparing. Paul? Paul?"

Paul collapsed in front of me. Ouch.

"I'm fine, mom, but I had stuff, sorry, okay? We can celebrate after I get back from camp. And uh...you'd better help out Paul..."

"But all the preparations! Your birthday! " my mom said, and she finally gave in. "Fine. Have a nice day with Annabeth, sweetie!"

She blew me a kiss. I turned away and blushed.

"Love you too mom!"

And the Iris-Message dispersed. That was the better part of my day, here's where it gets worse.

I went to breakfast like any other day. Little did I know, this was going to be incredibly different compared to well...any other day.

Nico came up to me slowly.

"Well Percy, now that the fighting with Kronos is done, I'm leaving," he said.

I spat out whatever I was swallowing.

"What? You're LEAVING?"

Everyone in the lunch room turned towards me. I blushed, again.

Nico just ignored them and continued, "Well, I ain't got no reason to stay anymore. I'm not welcome here Percy. I got to go, train my skills, you know, in case something else happens."

"You're totally welcome here! What about Thalia, Annabeth and Grover? What are you gonna tell them?"

"I'm not going to tell them anything. I'm just going to disappear into thin air," he told me as he winked.

"But...but..." but, I was too late. He strode away.

That was Misfortune #1, Misfortune #2: Annabeth just HAD to throw me a late birthday party at the beach. It wasn't the most pleasant experience. In fact, it lasted for a relatively short amount of time.

"Close your eyes, Percy," Annabeth said as she blindfolded me, just to be sure.

"Okay, okay, jeez."

She guided me in the general direction of the beach and I could feel the sand under my feet until she stopped me and said, "SURPRISE!!! Happy Birthday PERCY!"

She uncovered my blindfold. The decorations were sooooo elaborate and beautiful, no one could have hoped for better. There were green streamers spread across the sand and balloons just floating in the air. There was just a huge wooden stage in the middle of the beach with marksmanship was...amazing! Everything was absolutely perfect, until, I noticed something...

You could hear the termites working away.

Nico was there, Thalia was there, Luke was surprisingly there and Annabeth was there. There were also a couple of people from the Athena cabin, the Stoll brothers from the Hermes cabin, Silena and Beckendorf. This was a sad and extremely small party. Not even Grover was there.

"Where's Grover?"

"Um..." she answered tentatively.

"He's having difficulty with his girlfriend," Thalia said, like it was something out and open for discussion.

Great. Grover cared more about her girlfriend than me. I would have never ditched his birthday, or whatever they celebrated for satyrs. Regardless, I wouldn't have ditched it for Annabeth....unless...she asked me out...but otherwise...!

Forget it. Grover was just one satyr. He'd probably just chase away anyone with his reed pipes anyways.

Like I said, even without him, the party didn't last too long.

I was disappointed by the number of people that showed up. Sure I wasn't the most popular person at camp but, there were say...10 people at the party? I mean...come on!

I tried to hide my anger on my face...but it was clearly visible.

"What's...wrong, Percy?" Annabeth asked.

"Nothing!" I said as I gritted my teeth, "This is an awesome party!"

"Glad you like it!" she smiled.

I sat in a corner while the other like 10 people played in the sand and danced. They almost completely ignored me. Annabeth came over once in a while to check on me.

"You sure you don't wanna do nothing?" she asked.

"Yeah..." I grunted.

Honestly, I could feel the anger rush up inside of me. Any other day I would have been absolutely fine with this, but today, today was just a bad day.

And before I knew it, I had done it.

The music stopped.

"Uh...Percy?" a voice asked.

I looked up. Annabeth walked over to me, dripping wet. Uh oh.

"Don't tell me...I just dumped a wave on you guys."

Annabeth nodded slowly.

"You know what, forget it."

I walked slowly to my cabin and lied on the bed. Before I knew it, I fell asleep.

For the first time in a while, I didn't dream. I didn't think at all. Misfortune #3: It didn't last long at all.

I heard a knock on my cabin door.

I groaned again and climbed off my bed to open it.

"Percy." Annabeth said. "I know you're probably not looking forward to it, but uh...you got a sparring match today...with Clarisse, and if you don't show up, you forfeit."

It just had to be Clarisse... With any other person, I'd just forfeit and forget about the whole ordeal. Got back to sleep, yada yada yada. But Clarisse! Clarisse was a whole different story. She'd probably brag about how I was too chicken to face her for about a full year, and no way was I gonna let her do that. I could easily defeat Clarisse in a match now. I wasn't gonna back off and let her call me a chicken.

"Alright, I'm coming."

I followed Annabeth to the stadium. Oh boy. This was probably going to be the most fun I was gonna have today. Beating up Clarisse. Ah! I was TOTALLY psyched.

You know, I always have to jinx myself.

I entered the stadium with Annabeth, confident. Little did I know that this was going to be my big mistake, misfortune #4. The one that was unforgivable.


	32. Scarred for Life

**Chapter 32: Scarred for Life**

Why does EVERYTHING happen to me?

I didn't ask for this, I didn't ask for any of this, but why? Why me?

Anyways, before the 'incident,' I was actually looking forward to my battle with Clarisse. My whole body was excited. I was completely restless.

By the time we got there, Clarisse was already in full battle armour, waiting for me.

Wow! She took stuff seriously.

"Yo, Jackson, get your butt over here so I can kick it," she spat.

Chiron glared at her, immediately shutting her up.

Of course I was angered by her attitude but decided to keep my cool.

"Are you in a rush to lose?"

Clarisse growled.

Chiron interrupted our stare-off, "Percy, suit up."

I nodded and moved towards the weapons rack, never, even for a second, taking my eyes off her. And I swear, she winced for a second. I laughed.

In a couple of seconds, I was just as fully suited as Clarisse and ready to fight.

"And GO!" Chiron yelled.

Oh boy, I had been waiting for this all day, she didn't stand a chance!

She made the first move. Idiot. Never make the first move. She ran recklessly towards me, head on with her weapon held high. I stepped back as she swung and caught her right on her arm.

She yelped in pain. This was TOO easy. Then, pretending as it was nothing, she just shook it off.

"Honestly, Jackson, is that the best you can do?" she taunted.

I snarled and leapt forward at her.

Idiot me. Didn't I just tell myself not to make the first move?

I paid for it. She easily dodged it and knocked me back with a kick to the stomach.

OW!

I literally like flew back five feet. Clarisse stepped up to me, weapon against my throat.

"And...that's," Chiron began, "Percy?"

I wasn't gonna lose to her today. Nuh uh. No way.

I felt a sudden rush of anger and flicked her weapon aside. I got up and charged towards Clarisse. She backed up slowly while defending, but, she was too late. I had a goal in mind, and she wasn't gonna stand in the way of its completion.

I brought my weapon down on her as her own footwork tripped her. It was over.

"And, that's it," Chiron announced.

Honestly, that wasn't satisfactory. I had a sudden urge to kill her. I grinned. She stared at me. It was actually pretty funny.

_One demigod life doesn't matter, especially if it's Clarisse._

Yeah. That's right.

_You're actually helping the Olympians this way. Kill her, Percy._

Yeah, I should.

I lifted my weapon up for a swing. Clarisse ducked in fear. I was about to kill her when...

"PERCY!" Chiron yelled.

I turned.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

I stood there for a second.

"I, I don't really know..."

"The match is over," Chiron said, "You've already won."

I glanced at Clarisse. She seemed quite fearful of something. I'd never seen her this way before.

"Percy!" I heard a voice yell.

I turned around to find Annabeth running towards me.

"What were you thinking?" she demanded.

I didn't answer.

_Ah. More nuisances._

That's right.

_Dispose of them. They're useless pieces of junk. Quite wasteful in my opinion._

I understand perfectly.

I lifted my weapon up and glared at Annabeth.

"Percy?" she asked as she backed away slowly. "What's happening to you?"

I froze.

"Percy?" Chiron asked.

Everyone in the stadium was staring at me, as if I was guilty of something. Clarisse was still sitting there, on the ground, crouched in fear.

I didn't know what happened. I didn't know what I did, so I did the only thing I could do. I ran.

I threw all the equipment off me and bolted for the entrance.

"PERCY!" Chiron yelled.

I didn't look back.

I ran straight for the beach to clear my conscience. Only I didn't expect to see...something like that.

I stood over the water and looked down.

My face...looked....different somehow...eyebrows were slanting upwards, eyes wider, mouth twisted into an evil grin. It almost reminded me of someone.

Oh no, I thought as the realization hit me.

I kicked the water and the abnormal reflection disappeared. It was replaced by me. The normal me.

I hoped coming to the water would calm me down. Instead it had the opposite effect. It was like a scar.

Only this scar wasn't temporary, it was permanent. I was cursed for the remainder of my life as I knew it.


	33. The Explanation

**Chapter 33: The Explanation**

I sulked for the rest of the day sitting at the beach.

What I probably should have noticed was that Annabeth would follow me.

"Percy???" Annabeth asked.

Yeah, I ran past her without even looking at her, straight into the cabin. I decided to bolt the cabin doors. I was going to work towards throwing some furniture in front of the door but I looked around and realized there really wasn't much furniture I could pile at the door.

I gave up quickly and collapsed on my bed. Not surprisingly, I heard banging on the door a few seconds later.

"PERCY?" Annabeth asked as she tried to open the door.

I didn't answer.

"Percy? Are you listening?" Annabeth asked.

Honestly, not really. I wasn't really paying attention to reality.

_She really is a nuisance isn't she?_

Yeah, wait...

_Why don't you just kill her and be done with it?_

Sure...but...

_So...GO AHEAD ALREADY!_

Yeah...

I walked towards the door slowly, hand on Riptide. More cries came from behind the door.

"PERCY! Open up! I'm going to pick the lock if you don't open the door!" Annabeth yelled.

I stalked the door as if it was an enemy and brought Riptide up.

"Percy!" she yelled as she opened the door.

She walked in and I was holding Riptide write above her head.

_Is this first grade or do I have to tell you to bring the sword down?_

Of course...

Hold it...what the hell am I thinking?

Annabeth stood there, frozen for a second.

"Uh, Percy?" she questioned.

I stared her in the eye and immediately dropped my sword and capped it. We both paused.

Awkward silence.

"Percy? What's up with you?" she asked.

I paused, I didn't know how she was going to tell her.

"Annabeth. Get away from here."

She stared at me like I was some kind of brainless person. She wasn't half wrong because I could be, if _he_ took over at any given moment in time.

"Why?" she demanded.

I pondered about how I was to explain this.

"Remember when we fought Kronos...?"

"Yeah?" she answered.

"Well, I...I can still hear him in my head..."

"Are you okay? Hm...lemme see...post-traumatic stress maybe?" she laughed.

"No, Annabeth, I swear. Whenever I hear his voice, I have the urge to obey him!"

Annabeth stopped laughing, knowing I wasn't kidding.

"But how?" she asked, "didn't you get rid of him?"

I shrugged. I didn't know the answer.

_I might be able to oblige there._

You...

_Remember you're little sand dollar mechanism, clever toy Poseidon gave you..._

...

_Keywords there: purges any non-creature of the sea... You know, part of me can control water as much as you can. Fortunately, that's all I need. That part of me will stay inside you, forever._

Oh crud.

"Uh, Percy?" Annabeth asked, waving her hand in front of my face.

I looked back with despair.

"It's over, I'm done for."


	34. Capture the Me

**Chapter 34: Capture the "Me"**

"What? What do you mean Seeweed Brain?" Annabeth panted, cracking a smile.

"I'm not kidding. It's over. I'm screwed."

I explained to her the events of this afternoon; of my battle with Clarisse, the voices and the reflection in the water.

"I was afraid you weren't kidding," Annabeth responded.

We sat in silence for a moment until I decided that I didn't want her company anymore.

"Sorry Annabeth, I need some time alone."

"I understand," she said, with an exasperated sigh, "See you at Capture the Flag."

She stood up to walk towards the door.

Oh shoot, I'd forgotten about Capture the Flag.

"I don't think I can go to Capture the Flag. What if I lose control again and hurt somebody?"

"It's a good way to get your mind of stuff Percy," she explained, "and don't worry, I know you won't hurt anybody."

She had a point. I hated when she had a point.

"Fine. Wait...make sure you don't tell anybody."

She paused before she answered.

"Okay then, see you later," she said.

I nodded as she left and shut the door behind her. I lay on the bed, thinking about the events that came to pass today. I came to one single conclusion: I was an armed and dangerous weapon who would not come into contact with anyone else again until I could control myself.

Unfortunately, that wasn't a word I could keep myself. My girlfriend had insisted that I play Capture the Flag tonight.

"Great."

I fell asleep before I knew it. The dreams were not helping me at all.

Just who I wanted to see, Kronos. He stood before me in a cave.

_Perseus...you shall become the greatest weapon of all time...join me and we can conquer the world together._

_**All lies. Sure.**_

I visioned myself there with Kronos' pale white skin and bright yellow eyes, holding his scythe. I flinched.

_What's with the hesitation Perseus? You want power, I can give that to you._

He held out his hand.

I paused for a moment, wondering if I should take it. I questioned my morals and then thought back to all the fighting we had done against Kronos.

_**Why was there all this war? If only people could realize what fools they were and live in peace.**_

_Your dreams...can be made a reality..._

He sounded so sincere, I actually believed him.

Pondering...I reached out slowly for his hand...

"Percy!" I heard someone yell as I jolted up from my bed.

"What?"

"Capture the Flag! Remember!" Annabeth yelled.

"Right...I'll be out in a minute."

I hopped off my bed and walked towards the door. I listened to my head.

No other sounds or voices. Good.

Maybe I was going insane, like Annabeth said.

Okay, let's make the best of Capture the Flag.

I opened the door to greet Annabeth.

A curt, "you're late," was all I got.

I snarled at her. She frowned and joked around.

"Just kidding, Seeweed Brain. You take things WAY too realistically," she said.

We laughed together.

"Oh come on. Let's get this over with."

I thought I was playing Capture the Flag, what I didn't know was that we would be playing a little variation of which I like to call, Capture the "Me."

When we got there, Chiron was already assembling the teams. The Athena, Poseidon, Ares, and Aphrodite cabins were on one team and the Hepheastus, Apollo, Dionysius and Hermes cabins were on the other. Nico would also be playing on our team.

Well, at least Clarisse wouldn't be able to pick a fight with me and I wouldn't be able to pick a fight with her.

We broke off into our separate teams to discuss strategy. Annabeth had it all planned out. Clarisse and I (I tried not to think about that too much) would be on offense. Clarisse would lead a diversion with the Ares cabin while Nico and I would sneak past the river and get the flag. The Athena and Aphrodite cabins would be staying on defense.

Chiron started the game as usual.

"And GO!" A whistle blew.

Nico and I stayed behind for awhile, waiting for Clarisse to start attracting some attention, but honestly, I wasn't really thinking about the game. Nico seemed to notice.

"Percy? Percy?" he said as he waved his arms in front of my face.

I blinked.

"What?"

"Hello, Percy...are you even playing?" he asked.

"What? Oh...oh yeah...right....the game...of....Capture the...something...right?"

"Uh...it's Capture the Flag..." he answered.

Right, Capture the Flag, right...

"Is something wrong?" he asked, showing his concern in his tone.

"Wrong??? Nothing's wrong...not at all...Everything's fine..."

Not really, but I didn't want to tell him.

"Really..." he said, unconvinced. "Well, in that case..."

"Oh wait, that's the signal from Clarisse."

I pointed at the spear that had come flying from the field.

"Oh, kay, let's go," he said.

And we left.

I darted for the river, Nico right behind me. We ran full speed across the border and knocked down a few of the Hermes kids, but most of them were to busy fighting with Clarisse so it was WAY easy.

When we got to the flag, we saw that it was on a stone boulder in the middle of the field, guarded by 4 Apollo kids, with bows, in their hands.

This might be a little difficult.

They were circling the boulder (isn't that illegal anyways?), bows in hand, alert for danger and poised to strike.

Nico seemed just as clueless as I was.

"Okay, I'll run a diversion, lure I guess three of the Apollo's out of there, and you can probably take the 4th, right?"

"I guess..." he replied.

"Hold that thought. I'll be right back."

I darted back towards the river to bring help. Well, I never really tried this before, but I hoped it would work.

I gathered to big blobs of water from the river and shaped them into Percy's. Haha. It was kind of funny. Joy... Three me's.

"I'm gonna call you Percy Jr. and you Percy Sr."

Those were dumb names, but better than numbers. I always hated when they gave machines serial numbers, so difficult to remember.

I ran back to Nico, controlling my newfound two water clones.

"Whoa," he said as he saw the clones.

I laughed. "Meet Percy Jr. and Percy Sr."

He burst into laughter right after the names. I snorted at him and he shut up immediately.

"O..ke.y..." he started, barely able to control his laughter, "I'll be going then."

"Yeah, see you later."

I ran to the middle of the field with my clones and tried to attract as much attention as I could.

"HEY!" I yelled, "Over here!!!"

Strange...only the Apollo's kids had heard me. I looked back, it seemed that Clarisse's diversion had turned into a massacre.

They pulled out their bows and started firing at me and the clones. Everytime one of the clones got close, the 4th archer would shoot him down and he would regenerate. I laughed while I ran. Why? Because it was HILARIOUS!

"Now that is SOOOOO unfair," I heard one of them yell.

Pretty soon, the last archer was forced to move away from the boulder and Nico, seeing the opportunity, ran towards the flag.

Nico grabbed the flag with both his hands.

Yes, we are victorious!!!

Now we just had to get back...

Oh crud.

Correction: we WERE, we WERE victorious...

The Apollos weren't fooled. They turned around, bows pointing at Nico just when he seized the flag.

"RUN NICO!!!"

Yeah right, like the Apollos would let him.

Nico paused there, not sure what to do. He stared at the flag, then at the 3 bows pointing at him, then he stared back at the flag.

But where was the fourth archer?

"Drop the clones," I heard from behind me.

I turned around and there he was, arrow pointed at my shoulder, because we weren't supposed to harm anyone.

I froze, not sure what to do. I looked back at Nico and the fragile hope came to me again.

He had created a large opening in the ground between him and the Apollos and it was MOVING! He walked with the flag, deflecting the arrows while the Apollos backed up from the crack.

I immediately got rid of the clones and knocked the guy that was holding me prisoner to the side.

I whistled and a large blanket of water flew over to me from the river.

Flying water magic carpet...awesome...

I hopped on and flew past Nico's crack to help him deflect the arrows.

I got off beside him as the carpet dissipated into thin air.

"This is awesome!!!"

Nico smiled.

I was so glad I had listened to Annabeth and joined the game tonight.

...

I just had to ruin it. All of a sudden, I hated myself for the decision I had made.

I knew this feeling. This feeling comes upon me whenever he takes over, and that would mean...

"NICO!!! STOP!"

"Huh?" he asked.

Too late.

I stopped with the arrows and stared at him.

_Kill him._

Involuntarily, I turned my body to face him and started to stalk him. I lashed at him with Riptide.

Thankfully, he noticed what I was doing and backed off.

"Percy?" he asked.

_Kill him! Do it NOW!_

"Percy? What's going on?" he asked frantically.

I ran after him as he backed up and I threw a couple of good thrusts with my sword. One of them pierced through his armor around his leg.

_Yes, that's good._

"ARGH!" he yelped in pain.

He snapped the ground back together and yelled for help.

"Knock him out!" I heard someone yell.

I turned to look towards the voice and I saw the girl with the grey eyes taking off the Yankees cap.

The next thing I felt was a heavy knock on the head, and everything from there, went black.


	35. Reconnaissance

**Chapter 35: Reconnaissance**

I heard voices.

"And so, you're tellling me that this was what happened to Percy in the sparring match with Clarisse?" someone asked.

"Yes."

"And why didn't he come to me immediately?"

"He didn't want you to worry."

"Yes, that's when I worry most."

I came to only several minutes later...in the "infirmary".

"Ah! Percy! You're awake," Chiron said.

"Chiron! What...happened...?"

"Er...Clarisse banged you on the head on Annabeth's request..." Chiron answered, tentatively.

"Oh..."

I would remind myself to talk to Annabeth later...

"But more importantly Percy, how come you didn't come tell me about Kronos when you first noticed it?" Chiron asked.

Hm... That was a question that I didn't know how to answer.

"Well, I didn't..."

"You didn't want me to worry, yes I understand, but Percy, that's when I..." Chiron continued.

"That's when you worry most...got it."

This conversation was going nowhere.

"So, how do you feel now?" Chiron asked.

Hm...depression, anxiety and remorse came to mind.

"Fine, I feel fine."

"Are you sure, Percy?" Chiron pressed on.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine."

I paused.

_You're a horrible liar._

_**Shut up.**_

Chiron eyed me curiously.

"Well, there seem to be no further injuries, so, you should be fine. You may go," Chiron said.

I got off the bed and turned for the door.

"Oh, but Percy, tell me when it happens again okay?" Chiron continued.

I nodded.

I left the "infirmary" and shut the door behind me.

Annabeth was waiting right outside for me.

"Hey Percy, how're you doing?" she asked.

"Fine."

She followed me all the way to the cabin, posing questions when needed, until I finally got fed up with her.

"Well Percy, did Kronos...?" she started.

I cut in.

"Look Annabeth, I AM FINE. Kronos is not making me do anything at this very moment or I would have KILLED you already. I took your advice and played the game, and now, now I need some time alone, OKAY?"

She nodded as I shut the door to my cabin and went inside.

I sighed as I walked towards the fountain. I didn't know anyone else who could help me at the moment.

"Dad, dad? If you're there, I think I'm gonna need a little help here. I've gotten myself in a predicament. Dad?"

Nothing. No answer.

I sighed again and turned for my bed. As I did, I heard a swirling sound in the fountain. I turned around again to stare towards the fountain, only it wasn't really a fountain anymore, it looked more like a whirlpool.

Without giving it a second thought, I turned around and jumped in.

Note to self: look before you leap. I was lucky that it wasn't a portal to Tartarus.

Nico's POV

I honestly did not like the idea of having to stalk Percy, but seeing as what happened during that game, I agreed to it.

I followed Annabeth and Percy to his cabin where he slammed the door shut and left Annabeth standing in front of the door.

He walked over to the fountain and I assumed that he was Iris-messaging someone. I relaxed on the ground in front of the cabin window to take a break, and when I got up, he was gone. GONE! Vanished into thin air.

I didn't believe in disappearing acts, never did. Only, that wasn't the crux of the matter. There was going to be a very angry Chiron when I would tell him that I lost track of Percy, or wose, that he disappeared into thin air.


	36. The Psychological Battle of Intelligence

**Chapter 36: The Psychological Battle of Intelligence**

The whirlpool "tunnel" went on for ages and ages. Like...ages and ages... Honestly, if I didn't see the fish swimming by, I wouldn't be able to tell that I was moving.

The tunnel lead to a bright light, which I assumed was the end. As the light engulfed me, I closed my eyes in preparation for...whatever it was...that was...at the end of the tunnel.

I heard a soft swish of water where I landed. My first instinct was to pull out my sword and defend myself. I uncapped Riptide.

What I didn't expect was to hear a strange voice.

_Oy! Mind where you're pointing that sword of yours, will ya?_

Kronos was my first thought. Yeah right, Kronos wouldn't say something like that.

I opened my eyes.

_**Oh look, a fish, no, eel, no wait...I think it's called a seahorse.**_

_Darn right I'm a seahorse. Hey! You're Poseidon's boy aren't ya?_

_**Ya. Wait, how do you know my father?**_

If seahorses could laugh, I swear the "seahorse" burst out laughing.

_There ain't no creature around here that don't know Poseidon._

Yeah...probably should have known. Sea God, creator of horses....

_So, why are you here?_

_**I don't know. If I had to guess, I would say my father summoned me here. Hold on, where is here?**_

_You're right on the borders of Poseidon's ocean palace._

_**Really? Well, could you take me there?**_

_Um...perhaps..._

_**Perhaps what?**_

_If you can answer me this riddle..._

_**What? Are you a sphinx too?**_

_Haha...not really, I'm having trouble with this one though..._

_**Okay...sure...I'll TRY...Wait..hold it, and if I get this wrong?**_

I really shouldn't have asked that. I was never actually good at solving riddles. Where was the Wise Girl when you needed her?

_Well, then I see no reason to help a boy like you._

High stakes. I lose and the map burns itself up. Joy.

"Delphinius! Are you up to your old tricks again?" a voice asked.

I turned, the seahorse turned too.

Oh my...and guess who was standing there.


	37. Mortals, Gods and Demigods

**Chapter 37: The Differences Between Mortals, Gods and Demigods**

"I've been expecting you, Percy," my dad said calmly.

"P-P-P-Poseidon!" the seahorse Delphinius blurted.

"Now, now, Delphinius, you know that I've been expecting him. Let's not play your psychological jokes on my son please," Poseidon said, "He never was the sharpest knife in the drawer..."

Gee....my own dad undermining my intelligence, now that...stung.

"Yes sir," Delphinius responded.

"Honestly!" my dad said, shaking his head. "Percy, come with me now."

I followed him, with Delphinius close behind.

Why are you following me again?

"Because, I feel like it," the seahorse responded.

...Sure... Wait. How did he know what I was thinking?

"You're quite easy to read," the seahorse answered.

"Delphinius!" Poseidon said.

"Shutting up now," the seahorse said.

That is one DANG smart seahorse.

"I'm not a seahorse, I'm a human," the seahorse said.

I froze.

"You're a...human?"

Delphinius burst out laughing.

"What, you think a seahorse has an IQ of 200? Yeah...right," he said, "Poseidon gave me this form so I could serve him under the water."

200...that's even smarter than Wise Girl, or anyone else at camp.

"Yes that's right. Mortals are smarter than demigods and demigods are smarter than gods," the seahorse continued.

What? I'm smarter than a god. I looked to my dad, who was walking forwards and not looking back.

"Well sure, because gods usually make poor decisions based on sudden impulses and well, demigods, having the characteristics of humans, usually think more about decisions they make. Of course, your experience doesn't even COMPARE to that of your dad's but intelligence-wise..."

"DELPHINIUS!" Poseidon roared.

The seahorse cringed in fear.

"Shutting up now, again..." he said.

He was silent for the rest of the walk, or more accurately, swim to the Ocean Palace. It wasn't particularly tiring, but the fish were boring me.

"Red...yellow...blue...yellow..." I noted as the fish swam by.

Almost 200 or so fish later, we arrived at our destination.

"Oh...my...god..."

"Welcome to my Ocean Palace," Poseidon said.

This place made the Forbidden City seem like a joke. I swear. Even Mt. Olympus was inferior compared to this. This was beyond the description of words. There were beautiful arches lined up against the large double doors, all draped with a thin layer of seeweed, swaying with the current. This way and that way...

The inside was even more magnificent. As my dad opened the door, I gasped in wonder as the various fish swam out to greet me.

"Hello, Perseus..." "Hey Percy!" "So, you're Poseidon's kid?" "..."

"Hey." I said back.

Poseidon clapped his hands and they stopped crowding over me.

"See ya later, kid," Delphinius called as he swam off to join the school of fish. He looked at me as if it was the end of the world.

As all the fish left the palace, the magnificent giant doors closed with little notice. My dad beckoned for me to follow him to his throne, and I did. What I didn't know that there was a tiny throne, right beside it, with my name in Greek carved into it.

That's a little...much...

"So, Percy, have a seat," he said, sighing, "This split personality of yours is becoming a bit of a problem for all of us gods."

I gulped. How did he know?


	38. The Death of Percy Jackson

**Chapter 38: The Death of Percy Jackson**

"You'd think Zeus would have wanted me incinerated already."

"I don't know," Poseidon said, "you've proved quite useful in all our battles."

Joy...the only reason that I wasn't burnt toast was because I was the toaster.

My dad laughed at the expression on my face.

"Remind me how this is the least bit funny?"

Immediately understanding the seriousness of the matter, he stopped laughing and composed a stern look on his face.

"You should have come to me earlier," he said quietly.

"Why? What difference would it have made?"

"He wouldn't have had enough time manifested in your body to know how to STAY manifested when I tried to purge him out," Poseidon said, assuming the authority of a god.

"And how would you have done that?"

"Simple, I would have drained you of your ancestry, no connection to me, no powers and therefore, no Kronos," he said sternly.

I paused, reiterating the words in my head.

"You were willing to cut off paternal connections just to rid me of KRONOS?" I yelled, suddenly furious.

My dad sighed, "I did not say I would be willing, I just said that it would best for you, to carry on a normal life without the interference of Kronos or any of the Greek gods. You've done a lot for us, more than I can ever repay you for, but...I'm risking your life too much Percy, and look what kind of a predicament we are in now!"

My anger vanished, just like that.

"So...is it hopeless?"

"As of now, yes. However, I can think of one way to restrain his control over you for now. This is only temporary until we can think of a better way," he said, "it was either this choice or for you to be disposed of permanently, either way I'm sorry. Get up Percy."

I'm sorry? What was that supposed to mean?

"Get up, Percy," my dad said again, this time louder.

I shakily got up from the chair.

"Turn and face me," he said quietly.

I turned slowly, and suddenly...he lunged for me.

Three things happened in those third seconds in slow-motion. First, I turned around, second, he stared at me with the most apologetic eyes you would have ever seen, and third, he decided he wanted to kill me all of his sudden and threw his trident at my face.

"What the HELL do you think you're doing?" I yelled.

I dodged his trident as he swung it at me.

"I'm sorry," he said, swinging several more times.

"You're sorry...I get it, is that all you can say??? You're sorry you're the one that has to kill me, right? WHY COULDN'T YOU GET ZEUS TO FINISH ME OFF?"

"Calm down, Percy," he said.

I snapped right there. My anger flushed over me again and I lost control, completely.

_Nice to meet you again son._

"Kronos," my dad said through his gritted teeth.

I felt the power slowly building inside me, but I knew that the control was slipping away slowly. I could no longer feel my body. It was as if I was just an empty soul.

"Percy! CALM DOWN!" he yelled.

I couldn't stop myself. The power surged inside me until I just went crazy and my mind blanked out and pushed my conscience to a corner. I just lost control, he just took over and truthfully, it wasn't my fault.

_He's gone. Your efforts were futile._

"PERCY!" I heard my dad yell, and suddenly, he changed to a more serious tone, "You're gonna regret that."

That was directed at Kronos.

Poseidon thrust his trident forward, only for it to be caught by a grinning me.

_Nice try._

"Yes, I admit, I did think it was quite nice," he said.

_What? Oh no! What was that? Why am I slipping away? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!_

I could feel myself slowly regaining control as Kronos cringed in pain. I saw why.

As soon as I was able to move my body again, I wished Kronos was still in control. Why do you ask?

My body BURNED, literally BURNED in pain. I looked to the hand I caught my father's trident with to see a strange shaped mark – Ω – where the trident had been. The pain was UNBEARABLE. I screamed as the mark started climbing up my arm and spreading throughout my body. My legs gave in a split second to the burning Ωs. I cried in pain as the process continued.

"WHY?" I asked my dad, "WHY?"

I stared at him with serenity, he looked down with passion.

"I'm sorry," he said again, "it's for your own good."

And I swear, if you would cry underwater, I saw a large tear drop forming under his right eye.

As the pain subsided, and the mark receded to a point right on my forehead, I felt completely drained and powerless.

"Sleep well," my dad said.

That was the last thing I heard before I collapsed.

Poseidon's POV

I watched in pain as his body crumpled to the ground, but the worst was over for him.

_You will not get rid of me with weak magic such as this._

What was that?

_This boy, his soul resonates with my power. He will not abandon me. You will see._

Kronos.

_**Leave him alone**_, I thought. As if that were possible.

_I'm sorry son, but I cannot grant your request. Until we meet again..._

And then, it was silent, so, very silent...


	39. The Seal

**Chapter 39: The Seal**

I must have been dead by now. The painless coma I was in was proof of that. It was different from that searing pain that I had experienced before.

If I wasn't dead, I desperately hoped that amnesia would strike me when I woke up. I didn't want to remember that incident for the rest of my life.

I could feel myself slowly regaining consciousness... As I forced my eyes open, I could see two blurry figures standing over me.

"Yes, he's awake," one said.

"He's not going to be pleased," the other said.

"Knock me dead," I begged the voices.

My vision stabilized and I noticed I was on Mount Olympus. I recognized the scenery from the previous times that I had been here.

"Percy? How are you doing?" Poseidon asked.

"Dad?"

I finally realized who I was talking to. That face officially pissed me off.

"DAAAAAAD!"

I immediately shot out of the bed and sat upright, staring at him with hatred in the face.

"Perseus...calm down!" another voice said.

I had been completely oblivious to the other god standing there until now.

Of course Zeus would be here to defend his brother.

"You!" I said as I glared at the two of them.

"Percy...I'm sorry...let me explain everything," Poseidon started.

"I'm sorry...Oh...where have I heard that before? Let me think, IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN WHEN YOU TRIED TO KILL YOUR OWN DAMN SON!"

"Calm down Percy," my so-called dad said.

"Oh...CALM DOWN? Is that the best you can do?"

Anger rushed up inside of me and I leaned forward to punch my dad.

He didn't flinch or move.

Honestly, he didn't need to, because at the moment that I leaned forward towards him, I felt the pain burning across my forehead. I fell back into the bed, giving up.

"Perseus, if you don't hold still and listen, I'll have Ares restrain you," Zeus said.

I would have killed him right there if I could have, but unfortunately, I was powerless to do stuff. I felt completely empty inside, I had nothing left.

"So, are you going to listen?" Zeus said in his thunderous voice.

I nodded, reluctantly. I was too busy looking for an opportunity to assassinate them both.

"Percy...just remember that all this was for your own good," Poseidon started.

Yeah...I was done with the lies.

I pointed to my forehead, inquiring about it.

"See for yourself," Zeus said as he brought a mirror in front of me.

Oh my god, what happened to me?

There was a large, very noticeable Ω (I liked to call it a horseshoe), in the centre of my forehead and several small horseshoes surrounding it.

I stared at it, for a decent 5 minutes.

Zeus finally broke the silence, "It's a seal, it blocks you, or should I say, Kronos from doing anything too rash. However, you've also become limited in terms of what you can do with your powers."

I gasped, finally realizing what he meant. Translation: we made you weak so you can't overthrow us.

"And who agreed to this for me?"

Dumb question.

"I did," Poseidon said, "it was either that or to kill you because Kronos was really becoming a problem."

"I'd rather if you'd killed me," I muttered under my breath.

I wasn't particularly happy at this point, but I realized all my anger had been for naught. My father had truly been trying to protect me. Yeah, protect me by stripping me of my defense mechanisms.

"Percy, the small Ωs surrounding the large Ω are to block your more devastating techniques, like the clones, Aquetis or any large-scale flooding," Poseidon explained. "The large Ω in the middle is a seal to block out Kronos' mind from taking over."

"Oh, so when did you guys agree I was a dangerous weapon and should be branded with horseshoes to prevent further destruction? I can control myself. I can LEARN to control myself."

My father shook his head in disagreement.

"Percy, I understand your disapproval of this matter. However, Zeus and I have agreed to remove some of the smaller Ωs if you learn to control yourself. In fact, they will remove themselves when they feel you are ready. When you are on the verge of losing control, they will act in a violent manner and you will experience a great deal of pain..." he flinched at that thought, "...on your forehead."

I nodded. It was most likely for the best, though I didn't have to like that. But this was a simple deal, I learn self-control, the stupid horseshoes go away. I bet you Annabeth would think Blackjack stomped on my head or something. Ha! I bet Blackjack would get something out of that.

"Oh, and either your dad or I will be coming to check on you at camp every so often," Zeus said.

I was about to yell back, I don't need to be babysat you know? But I decided now was a good time to practice self-control, if any.

"And..with that, well...you seem fine, so you can get back to camp. The seal seems to be working well too," Zeus said.

I flinched at that thought.

"I've got Blackjack on the roof waiting for you," Poseidon said, "You can go whenever you feel ready. I'll have to send a message to Chiron too."

Ha! Blackjack. What a coincidence.

"Okay, dad. I'm not going to say thank you, but I'm not going to hate you either."

I believed that was the best way to get past all this.

"I'm glad, I thought you would have wanted to massacre me after all this," my dad said.

I laughed, because that was true, in a sense.

I waved goodbye and turned for the door to the roof. Blackjack, the pegasus was waiting there, just like my dad had said.

_Yo! Boss! _

And then, he burst into laughter.

_It looks like I stomped on you or something!_

I growled at him as I got on.


	40. The Inconvienient Truth

**Chapter 40: The Inconvienient Truth**

Note to self: self-control is a difficult practice. There were more than several times that I wanted to behead Blackjack on the way back to camp.

_Haha! Boss! I bet Annabeth would get a kick out of that eh, I stomped on you! Haha!_

I gritted my teeth. Going to my happy place, going to my happy place...

_Oh look! We're back!_

As we descended on Camp Half-Blood, I could already see the tiny figures at the beach waiting for our arrival. Almost half the camp was there, I had no idea why.

As Blackjack landed, I braced myself for the "'Where have you been?' and the 'Are you alright, Percy?'s." Sure enough, they came.

"Where have you been Percy?" Annabeth asked, "Are you alright?"

I tried to tune the rest of the babbling out.

"I'm fine. I've been resting and recuperating elsewhere."

_You see the horseshoe on his forehead. I STOMPED ON HIM!_

Annabeth looked up curiously at Blackjack's neighing sounds.

"Uh...apparently he stomped on my forehead for the fun of it."

"Oh really?" Annabeth said, sounding surprised. "I would have thought that was the subject of some magical experiment gone wrong!"

I stuttered. "Ah, n...n...nnothing of that s..sort, Blackjack really...n..nailed me, that's all. It really hurts though, I think I'll be okay in a couple of months."

Better estimate long.

"Oh," Annabeth said, "Okay. And...Chiron really needs to see you Percy, he wants to talk to you."

"Okay."

I followed Annabeth slowly to the Big House. What would I tell Chiron? Would he believe Blackjack stomped on me too? Well, I thought if Annabeth believed it...then Chiron might too.

I was sorely mistaken.

"Hello, Percy," Chiron said as I opened the door to the Big House.

Annabeth had agreed to meet me at my cabin later. For once, I was glad that I had gotten out of her sight.

"Hello, Chiron," I said, calmly and cheerfully.

"Hm..." he began, "That mark on your forehead..."

"Oh this?" I interrupted, "Blackjack took me by surprise, that's all."

I thought that was a pretty smooth lie.

"Uh...your father Iris-messaged me earlier, but he only gave me the minor details," Chiron said.

Oh. Oops.

"Yes, so about that mark...the big one is suppposed to block out Kronos, yes?" he asked.

I nodded.

"And what about the ones around it?" Chiron asked.

"They're supposed to keep me from doing any dangerous just in case the middle seal breaks."

"Ah...I see...quite an interesting magic practice...seals," Chiron speculated.

Anything that involved intense amounts of pain, did not comply as interesting to me.

"I assume Poseidon will be keeping an eye on you then?" Chiron asked.

"Yes...Zeus will be too. Speaking of Zeus, I haven't seen Thalia for a while, or Luke for that matter. Where might they be?"

"Ah...those two," Chiron started, "I..uh...sent them off on a quest, they should be back shortly."

"A quest? How come no one told me this?"

"You were out for two weeks, Percy," Chiron answered.

Oh. That explained a lot.

"I'll see you at dinner, Percy," Chiron said.

"Yes sir."

I turned for the door.

"Oh, and Percy...steer clear of camp borders!" Chiron warned.

I froze, wondering what that meant, but before I could turn around to ask, there was a loud impatient knocking on the door.

"Percy? You done yet in there?" Grover asked.

"Yeah!" I left the building.

I hadn't seen Grover in a while. It felt nice, walking side by side like we were old pals again. He went on about how Juniper and him made up and he was living the "sweet life." I told him about Annabeth and how our relationship was progressing, until I had the sudden urge to ask him a question.

"Uh...so...what's up with the camp borders?"

"Camp borders...so you've heard huh?" he asked.

Not really.

"Yeah...Chiron told me to be careful."

"Well uh...there has been an increasing number of attacks at the borders lately," Grover said, "few Apollo kids injured, nothing big though, but still...I thought we had drowned all the monsters and wiped out their memories in that battle against Kronos."

I shuddered to hear the name.

"But you know what that means Percy?" Grover asked. "It means, he's still alive, he's still out there in some form."

I knew that. And why? Because the truth was this:

Kronos had inherited a new host. He was inside me, a part of me, for all eternity as I knew it.

And it was most certainly, inconvienient.


	41. My Poor Lying Skills

**Chapter 41: My Poor Lying Skills**

I circled back to my cabin to meet Annabeth. I said goodbye to Grover as he had a night planned with Juniper.

Annabeth greeted me with silence.

I sat down on the step beside her.

"Hey."

"Oh, hello, Percy. By the way, now that we're away from everyone else, you can tell me the truth," she said, staring at me.

Note to future self: don't have a career as a liar, because you're an epic failure at lying.

"Was it that noticeable?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said, her voice barely audible.

I sighed.

"Promise not to tell anyone?"

"Yeah." she said.

"Well, apparently, the split personality thing was getting a little harsh for the gods and they wanted to incinerate me or try to restrain me."

She nodded and motioned for me to continue.

"So my dad came up with the idea with the ancient seal. The big Ω is supposed to lock out Kronos from taking over again. And the smaller Ωs are supposed to block some of my devastating techniques just in case I lose control. They'll disappear when I learn to control myself."

"I see..." she said.

"Disappointed?"

"Yes...of course, Seeweed Brain," she said with a hint of sarcasm.

We laughed for a short moment.

"So, what's on the agenda tomorrow?"

She frowned at me.

"Chiron's ordered extra defenses at the camp borders," she said quietly.

I was about to ask why, but then it hit me.

"The monsters, right?"

Annabeth stared at me. I quickly interrupted.

"Uh...Grover told me."

She laughed. "So Grover."

But then her smile snapped back into seriousness.

"Yeah, it's a two cabin together thing. I'm on tomorrow. I think you're on the day after with Nico and Thalia. She's coming back then," she said.

"Where did Thalia go anyways?"

"She went on some quest...something for the gods, about an ancient relic or something..." she said, breaking off.

Ancient relic?

"Uh...okay...so I guess I'll uh see you at dinner?"

"Sure..." she said, drifting off.

Seconds later, you could hear ringing at the Big House.

"Guess that's now. Come on Wise Girl, let's go!"

I pulled her hand as we walked in silence towards the Big House. Ah...romance...serenity... passion...revenance...comedy...I honestly can't tell the difference.

I wondered what she was thinking then.


	42. Easier Said Than Done

**Chapter 42: Easier Said Than Done**

"Come on, Seeweed Brain, how slow do you walk anyways?" Annabeth asked, dragging me.

Annabeth dragged me helplessly to the Big House for dinner.

"You know, I have uh...these things...they're called feet."

Annabeth laughed. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you didn't use them."

You would always count on Annabeth to come up with a smart comment.

As we sat down for dinner, I waved at Annabeth from my table. As usual, we scraped off a part of our dinner for the gods.

_**Dad! Um...thanks a lot for the seal, now...can you tell Aphrodite to cut me some slack please? Thanks.**_

I ate dinner in peace, until Clarisse approached me.

She banged on my table until my head hurt, "Ha! Jackson! Heard about Blackjack stomping on you. You can't even control the damn horse," Clarisse said, laughing.

I stood up, and immediately all eyes were turned on me. Chiron turned to warn me. Be calm, do not lose your temper.

"You know, I've seen mortals with better tattoos than you! Honestly, Jackson...is your imagination limited to a horse's foot?" she asked with sarcasm.

Be calm, do not lose your temper. I took a deep breath in, and out.

"You know Clarisse, I think it's cute that you carry a little rain cloud around with you."

She paused, wondering what I was talking about.

"Don't be ashamed to admit it."

I gathered some of the moisture in the air and let it condense slowly on Clarisse's head, drop by drop.

Laughter echoed in the Big House. My forehead stung a little.

"JACKSON!!!" she yelled.

"CLARISSE!!!" Chiron ordered. "Please take your seat."

She spat at me and turned to return to her seat at the Ares' table, her little "raincloud" accompanying her.

"Percy, let it go," Chiron said with a stern voice.

The raincloud above Clarisse's head dissipated. I laughed and looked towards Annabeth. She winked back and then gasped, and then winked again.

Ah! I ate the remainder of my meal with a huge grin on my face.

When I was about to get up and leave, I noticed that Annabeth was fidgeting and motioning for me to come talk to her. It seemed she was eager to show me something.

"I want to show you something," she said, when I approached her.

"Okay, let's go."

We left the Big House, hearing a couple of "awws," and "lovebirds!!!" that we ignored.

We traversed back to her cabin.

"Wait here," she said, as she left to get something.

I stood there, for a short 30 seconds. Annabeth returned with a small post-it note in her hand.

I took the note, looking at it.

"It's blank," I said flatly.

"No duh, that's not what I wanted to show you," Annabeth said. "Here, give it to me."

I passed her the post-it note and almost a split second later, I felt a sharp pain across the palm of my hand. I looked down to realize that the post-it had given me a paper cut. And there was blood...

"Ow." I complained, "What did you do that for?"

Annabeth motioned for me to watch the scar. I stared at it blankly for a couple of seconds and watched in awe as the cut began to seal itself shut. A little water formed at the tip of the cut and swallowed the blood.

"You know what this means, right?" she asked. "Apparently, one of the bruises you got from Blackjack's stamping is gone now."

I gasped, finally realizing what she was getting at.

I laughed, "But the big tattoo's still there."

She joined in, "Yeah, and now it just looks like Blackjack trampled on you with his front legs."

I didn't care to remember the name of my ability. The only thing that mattered was that I had one less hurdle to crash through.

"One hurdle down."

"Um...I think you jump over hurdles, not into them," Annabeth said.

"Sure..."

I embraced my old ability.

Welcome back...um...water-bodyish thing.


	43. An Old Friend

**Chapter 43: An Old Friend**

The day without Annabeth passed by rather quickly. In fact, I was catching up with my old buddy Grover and didn't think about her half the time.

I wonder if that's a bad sign.

The next day was unfortunately a whole lot longer than the previous one. I was on guard duty with Zeus' annoying daughter and Hades' usually depressing son.

"I got point, take flank." Thalia ordered.

I didn't even bother trying to argue with her today. Didn't feel like it, didn't have it in me either. Nico looked delighted to be on guard duty, which was a first.

"I would have expected you to get in my face by now," Thalia said smugly.

I rolled my eyes, and then almost immediately thought of an interesting conversational topic.

"Say, Thalia, what were you doing with Luke for the past couple of days?"

She froze.

"Uh...nothing much. Some errand for Chiron and the Gods. Something about an ancient relic or something," she said quickly.

I wondered why she had such an awkward reaction.

"What about the ancient relic?"

"I'm uh... actually not sure. It's just a rock with inscriptions on it to me," she said.

"Where did you go though?"

She immediately calmed down, thinking about it. I wonder why.

"The Underworld, eww...I really hate it down there. Zeus' daughter and dead people REALLY don't mix," she said.

Nico scowled beside her.

"No! I don't mean you Nico," she said.

Still displeased, Nico turned to focus on the hill.

I laughed.

"You know what Seeweed Brain? Why don't you just...?"

"Um...guys..." Nico said, breaking Thalia's about to diss me routine.

Haha. Thanks Nico.

"No, guys! LOOK!" Nico said.

Thalia and I both turned at the same time. And guess what was standing at the bottom of the hill.

OH! Just my luck. Look who it is, the Minotaur. Gee.

"Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy."

I pulled out and uncapped Riptide.

"You know what Percy? Why don't you break into the song 'Joy to the World' instead?" Thalia asked with sarcasm.

Hm...good idea.

"You Seeweed Brain! Help us fight!" Thalia shrieked.

"Uh...she's got a point. Clone would be helpful for diversion right about now," Nico said calmly.

I frowned.

"No can do."

"What? Do you have something against me or something? Do you want us to die?" Thalia asked.

The Minotaur was slowly advancing.

"It's not that I don't want to, I can't!" I pleaded in my defense.

Nico glared at me. Thalia paused to look at me too.

"I'll explain later, um...big monster bull thing in front of us, remember?"

The Minotaur followed me around. His head cocked towards me with every fraction of an inch I moved.

Damn. Don't look at me like that.

"Percy! Focus!" Thalia yelled.

_Yes! Kill him and set me free._

_**Oh no. Not you again.**_

"Ouch, forehead pain."

_ARGH! Curse this seal._

The voice in my head disappeared once again. I sighed with relief.

"Percy!" Nico yelled, as he got in front of me to defend me.

"Thanks Nico!"

And with that, I bolted for the other side of the Minotaur.

Only a couple seconds later, the Minotaur turned itself so that it was facing me, completely ignoring Nico.

"Why the HELL is it so focused on you, Percy?" Thalia asked.

I had a PRETTY good idea.

"I HAVE NO DAMN IDEA!!!"

As I backed up, Thalia ran forward to shock the monster. Ugh. Not pretty.

The monster shriveled in pain for a short few seconds until Nico stabbed right threw with his Stygian iron sword. AND...poof...dust.

I was getting quite tired of this routine to be honest. Monster, distraction, stab, poof, dust.

Monster, distraction, stab, poof, dust. Monster, distraction, stab, poof, dust.

For example, in that last battle, it was monster: Minotaur, distraction: me, stab: Nico, poof: their disappearing act, and dust: their remnants. The monsters really needed a new come and go routine.

We relaxed.

"So, about the clones..." Thalia said.

"You're not going to leave me alone until I tell you, right?"

She shook her head. Nico approached me too.

"Eh...didn't think so. But can this wait until tonight?"

Thalia looked at Nico and they both nodded.

"Fine, we're bunking at your cabin tonight, and don't even try to hide," she said.

"I'm going to invite Annabeth."

"Sure, fine, then I'm going to invite Luke," she said.

Sometimes, she could be soooooooo annoying. But I really couldn't say anything in my defense this time around.

I sighed. "So be it."


	44. The Beginning of the End

**Chapter 44: The Beginning of the End**

As the sun went down, and the night approached, I noticed that Thalia and Nico never let me out of their sight.

We gathered in my cabin as promised and I explained things to Thalia, Nico and Luke, who sat there, quite patiently, in my opinion to listen to me speak.

"So, that's what the Blackjack stomping cover up story was for," Thalia said.

I nodded.

"Well, it's nice to know you can clone again," Nico said.

"Say what?"

"You've only got one of the small marks on your head now," he said.

Really? Annabeth handed me a mirror.

"Oh, I see... That's great!"

"You Seeweed Brain," Annabeth said as she pushed me lightly. I fell over purposely.

We laughed all night. Of course, we pretended to be sleeping when the harpies made their run; we wouldn't want to cause any trouble for Chiron.

When our little quintet here finally got to sleep, there was more trouble, like always.

The earth started to rumble. At first, it was only a small tremor, but the shaking got more vigorous slowly.

"An...y....oone else fe...eling...the shaki....ing???" Thalia asked.

We all nodded and scrambled for the door at the same time. By the time we got outside, all the cabins had gathered. Luke and Annabeth said goodbye and ran off to their respective cabins. Why? Guess what?

Chiron galloped over to us in a hurry.

"We've got a bit of a situation," he explained.

NO, REALLY!?! The earth is ripping apart. No big deal.

Chiron shook his head. "Good news and bad news."

We all paused, waiting for him to continue.

"Bad news is there's um...an army of monsters on the other side of the camp border, advancing as we speak," he said.

"What the heck?" Nico exclaimed.

Chiron held up a finger. "A-hem. Good news is, I sent for help, the gods will be here in a short amount of time."

"Define, a short amount of time."

"Um...about 30 minutes to an hour," he said.

Oh...crud. We were going to have to defend the camp for quite a long time, with hardly any supernatural help. Just how I wanted to spend my summer vacation.

"Suit up, we're going to need every man on the field," Chiron said solemnly.

We followed orders and immediately clother ourselves in full battle armor. It was simple. We would fight, and most likely, we would die before the gods got there. That's okay. Dying was fine with me. Absolutely fine. It was better than living at this current moment.

"Oh great, another battle for the ages."

"Shut up and fight, Jackson," Clarisse growled.

You know, honestly, if we didn't need every man (or woman) on the field right now, I would've knocked her down, right there. Instead, I kept my mouth shut.

The monsters charged up the hill to Camp Half-Blood. It wasn't until they reached the border that I noticed how outnumbered we were. I'd say it was about um...10-1 maybe? There were a heck of a lot of monsters I'd never realized existed. Interesting... I still don't get how all the monsters got their memories back. Then again, maybe they don't have memories.

"You owe me for the bussss, boy!" Arachne said.

I...stand corrected. Anyways, that wasn't very important right now.

I fought. We fought. The whole camp fought; Apollo's shooting arrows, Ares' doing hardcore 1-on-1's, Athena's guerilla warfaring, Hermes' assassinating, Aphrodite's hair-tripping...point is...we fought damn hard.

"There's too many of them!" Thalia yelled.

"Fall back! Fall back!" Nico said, as he watched a couple of the Ares kids fall.

The monsters pushed us back to the very brim of the camp borders.

"NO WAY am I retreating," Clarisse yelled, "Only cowards do that."

I rolled my eyes at her stupid words. Then, I suddenly had the urge to run up to her...why?

"Clarisse, MOVE YOUR FEET!"

She looked at me, and then looked up to notice the incoming danger. One of the monsters had a huge club above her head.

Monster, club, Clarisse. Monster, club, Clarisse. Not a very good combination.

I pulled her back, just as the club came crashing down.

"You SO owe me."

Clarisse growled as we ran back to meet up with everyone else. She didn't seem thankful, but secretly, she knew she was. Heck, even I knew she was, and I'm not her. There's a freaky thought, eh?

Sudden sharp pain on forehead.

"Percy!" Annabeth said, pointing at my forehead.

I wasn't an idiot anymore. I knew very well what she was referring to.

I put my hands together.

"Time for some large-scale monster tsunamis."


	45. Monster Flooding

**Chapter 45: Monster Flooding**

Unfortunately, I had no water whatsoever. The camp stood there, waiting for the action.

_**Needing a miracle, dad, make it rain please**_, I prayed.

I opened my eyes and saw Thalia praying too.

The day got darker slowly. Clouds built up. A flash of light streaked across the sky and a loud boom was heard. It started to pour.

Ah, the convienience.

Thalia met my gaze and we both nodded.

Thanks dad and Zeus, or Zeus and dad, whichever you prefer.

"Okay. Now, it's monster flooding time."

I gathered a bunch of water from the rain and slowly built up a wall of water in front of me. As the wall built up higher and higher, some of the monsters started to cringe in fear and froze in their tracks.

"Nico!"

Nico glanced at me for a second and understood.

He created a large gorge behind all the monsters. They paused staring at the wall and the gorge. It was as if they were deciding which death they wanted to pick. The vast majority of them came for the wall. Poseidon was known to be more merciful than Hades.

"Hurry, Percy!!! I can't keep this for long!!!" Nico yelled.

I nodded and released all the water. It's called flooding.

The monsters fought against the current, but, unfortunately for them, the rain lasted and therefore, so did the flood. One by one, they fell into the gorge that Nico had created. All the monsters disappeared in a flash.

Cheers erupted from beside me.

"We WON!!!" Annabeth yelled, running to hug me.

I held my arms out as she tackled me and she...kissed me.

She kissed me. SHE ACTUALLY KISSED ME!

I couldn't get that out of my head. I stood there, blushing while the whole camp was celebrating.

Unfortunately, things like this never last long.

"WE WON!!! WE WON!!!" Thalia yelled in triumph. "WE.....hy the HELL ARE THE MONSTERS REAPPEARING?"

We all gasped in horror as we heard Thalia's booming voice over the cheers of the crowd.

The monsters started reforming one by one. Slowly. They advanced on us, again, as a group.

"STOP MAKING THEM REAPPEAR!" I yelled, technically talking to myself.

I had heard talking to yourself was the first sign of insanity, but I didn't care at the moment. There were more pressing matters at hand.

I hoped I could make them stop reappearing, after all, I was the one making them reappearing in the first place. But you know why, I couldn't? You know why?

Because I'm a stubborn little child, I make decisions on a whim, did you know that?

_Yes, I did._


	46. Having a Pep Talk with Yourself

**Chapter 46: Having a Pep-Talk with Yourself**

_Given up yet, Perseus?_

_**Um...no.**_

_Well in that case, give up, Perseus._

_**Um......no, not going to happen.**_

_If you give up, I'll spare your friends._

_**Um...wait, wha?**_

_If you give up, I'll spare your friends._

_**And if I don't?**_

_Well then, they'll die with you._

_**What if I don't die?**_

_That's not an option for you unfortunately._

_**And why is that?**_

_Because, the only reason I haven't killed you is because I think you would make a great asset to my forces. Join me, Perseus._

_Not happening._

_**Would you rather die?**_

_Not happening either._

_If you don't join me, you're giving yourself a one-way death sentence._

_**And why is that?**_

_Well, since, I am technically a part of your brain at this moment, I can cut off any neural activity, hence, ridding you of your life._

_**In English please?**_

_I can disconnect your brain from your body and you will most certainly die._

I froze in horror.

_**And you haven't done this because???**_

_Because, I hope you will be able to see the light and join me._

Bleh. Yucky words. Need to stall though, need to stall!

_Stallling won't help you._

_**How did you know what I was thinking?**_

_We share a..._

_**Right...we share a brain. How could I be so stupid?**_

_Anyways, hurry up Perseus, I'll give you a few minutes to make your choice._

_**I am so screwed.**_

_Join me, and you won't be._

I tried to think about my decision as much as possible, but my real intention was the stalling bit. I hoped that if my thoughts clouded my intentions, I could last long enough for someone to save me. Hope is fragile, but at least existent.

And if something was existent, it would be worth hoping for.


	47. 911 Arrived

**Chapter 47: 911 Arrived**

I win...911 arrives.

"Percy! Wake up. And you! You...get out of his brain please," a voice called.

_Dad. Dad? Is that you?_

"Yeah, I'm right here, wake up!" Poseidon yelled.

_But I am awake. Aren't I?_

"You collapsed when Kronos wanted to talk to you, now wake up," he said.

_How?_

_**Be quiet son! My grandson in making a revolutionary choice right now.**_

"Get out of his head," my dad said calmly.

_**I will...when he makes his choice.**_

"I have the Crajuk here. I don't want to use it," my dad said.

_**The...the Crajuk? How'd you get that? Even it's existence is rumoured!!!**_

_The Cra wha?_

"Thalia here, fetched it for us on a mission," my dad said. "Now, for the last time, get out, I don't want to use this."

_The ancient relic Thalia was talking about?_

"Yeah. G.e.t. o.u.t." my dad stated, spelling out the words.

_**Never. It's use is only rumoured too. I'm not afraid to take my chances.**_

"True, but chances are, the chances will be in our favour," my dad said.

My head hurt, a lot.

_Can someone take me out of this smart Greek god and titan conversation?_

"Hang on, Percy," my dad said.

I sensed no reaction from Kronos whatsoever.

"Last warning," my dad said. "Get out of my son's head!"

_**NEVER!**_

Awkward silence.

"I didn't want to use this, you didn't want me to use this and I doubt Percy will like me after I use this too, but point is, I'm using it. You forced me too, DAD...remember that when you spend an eternity in the Crajuk," he said.

I felt excruciating pain when someone slammed a boulder into my head. I swear, it FELT like a boulder. I twitched and writhed in pain.

And...guess what?

That was nothing. I'd take that 100 times over again and be quite happy.

The reason: it all went downhill from there.


	48. Crajuk

**Chapter 48: Crajuk**

I can't describe this. There are no words in the English language I can describe this with. I was thinking of trying Japanese, but even that wouldn't cover it. I would be even willing to coin terms for this, just like Shakespeare did for his plays, but unfortunately, I'm not Shakespeare. So instead, I'll use a word that exists: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. There, I said it, this felt like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, whatever that means.

I will bet you anything that you will never feel anything more painful than this. NEVER, in the six thousand three hundred and forty six lives you have lived or will live, will you EVER feel anything more painful than this. Not if you are gunned down by a machine gun, not if you are physically ripped apart by a carnivore, not if you are hit by lightning and most certainly not if you fell from the tallest building in the world. At least you'd be dead before you felt the pain. But me, I was alive, unfortunately.

Hm...let me put this in a language you may or may not understand. Good luck with deciphering the many letters.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Did you get that? Did you get that? Because if you didn't, here's it again for you.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I literally SCREAMED.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

And within three long screams, it was over. The absence of pain frightened me for a second there.

What happened? I wasn't so sure myself, but whatever it was, it hurt A LOT. Do you need it again? Huh? Because I never want to go through that again. Nice try, but I'm not going to scream a fourth time.

Instead, I opened my eyes.

"Ah. Percy. You've come to," Poseidon said, bending over me.

"Remind me what happened again?"

"Ah well...um..." Poseidon said.

Poseidon's POV

I slammed the relic fragment onto his forehead.

"NO! NO! NO! IT CAN'T BE! HOW COULD IT BE?!?" Kronos yelled.

"I'm sorry, father. Good luck in world domination in Crajuk," he said.

I watched as the mark on Percy's forehead became distorted. The mark shifted and visibly, there was something coming out of it, which I assumed was Kronos' soul. I had Thalia, Nico and Annabeth hold him down as he screamed and writhed. It really wasn't pretty. Each of his screams pierced my heart and tormented me. They were mocking.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

The second one came right after.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

The third one didn't hesitate at all.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

After that, I hoped it was over, and thankfully, it was. I would've killed myself if there was anymore. I looked over to that Annabeth girl and realized she was taking it in pretty hard too. So was Nico, and Thalia, although she tried to keep a straight face.

When Percy finally came to, I was relieved.

Percy's POV

"Oh. So what's the Crajuk anyways?"

"Well, apparently, it's this magical ancient stone that banished criminals to an alternate dimension. We weren't sure of what it's effects would be though. It was only a theory, after all, this artifact had been lost for over 100 millenia or so. Surprisingly, Dionysius was the one who came upon it when he was browsing, comic books," Poseidon said.

Dionysius smiled proudly.

"And you sent Thalia and Luke to get it?"

"Yes, that's true. I didn't tell Thalia much, only that it was supposed to cause you pain but help you at the same time. The relic technically ripped your conscience in two. That must have been painful," Poseidon said.

It was.

"Nah...it wasn't that bad."

I bit my lip, immediately regretting the lie. I hoped the Greek gods would never use me as an experiment again.

"It must have been really painful, Percy," Poseidon said. "Don't lie."

Perfect opportunity.

"Fine. It was actually really bad. Like really bad. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious bad."

Poseidon stared at me questioningly. Annabeth, Nico and Thalia laughed.

"Well, whatever floats your boat," Poseidon concluded.

"Wait, what happened to the monsters?"

"They got sealed in Crajuk too," Poseidon said. "I was afraid me might have had to clean up after but this relic really works wonders."

"So, is the horseshoe gone?"

This time, Annabeth was the one that answered. "Yes, Seeweed Brain, the bruise from Blackjack stomping on you has healed up fine."

Poseidon burst out laughing.

"So this is what I've been hearing about Blackjack," he said.

I heard neighing of approval from the staples, interrupted by the growling of my stomach.

"Haha. Let's get some food in your stomach," Thalia said.

I was so hungry when she mentioned it, I could eat a horse.

And then I heard angry snarling fom the distance.

_**Sorry man.**_

_No problem boss!_


	49. The End

**Chapter 49: The End**

I slowly got to my feet and brushed the dirt off my pants. My whole body ached of course, but for the first time since I found out I was a half-blood, I was truly happy. I knew it truthfully in my heart, that the war was over. Kronos had been imprisoned, and if he broke out again, it wouldn't be until I died my happy death.

The only thing that bothered me was if I had to be born as a hero once more and defeat Kronos. Nah. In my next life, I wanted to live a simple life, it was my wish. I had had enough excitement for my next six thousand three hundred and forty six lives.

"Percy!" Annabeth cried as she embraced me.

I hugged her back.

"Ahem!" Thalia coughed.

Annabeth and I pulled ourselves apart, immediately embarrased.

We all laughed for a long time, because it would be a while since we could laugh together again anyways.

Did I forget to mention that today was the end of the summer term for half-bloods?

That would mean that I would be going home, Annabeth would be leaving, Nico would probably run away to the Underworld again, and Thalia and Luke would go to Paris or something.

Good things really never last long, do they?

I went back to by cabin and packed my things, along with every other camper and after a while, you could hear a lot of passionate, "good byes," or "see you next years."

"Percy!" someone called.

I turned around.

"Oh hey Nico!"

"Thanks a lot Percy," he said.

"For what?"

"For everything. Taking care of me in place of...Bianca..." he said, stuttering over the name of his sister.

"Oh no problem."

He looked as if he was going to cry though.

"You know, Nico? Just between you and me, I bet you Bianca would have been proud. You did good, kid."

He looked up at me, and then cracked a smile.

"Thanks, Percy. See you next year or so," he said.

"Are you going back to the Underworld?"

"No, I think I'm going to hang around here for a while, I'll be on my way soon though," he said.

"Okay, go ahead, you're always welcome in my cabin Nico, remember that."

"No problem, thanks, Percy. See you later!" Nico said.

"Bye Nico!"

And with that, I was once again left alone. But silence is always quickly interrupted.

"PERCY!!!" a girl called.

"Thalia, and Luke, hey."

"You still say my name like you have something against me," Luke said.

I do have something against you, and I was just about to tell him that when...

He held his hand out.

"Well, whatever it is, it's all over now, so, truce," Luke said.

I raised my hand slowly to shake his.

"Truce." I agreed, with reluctance.

"I think we're going to go to Paris for a couple of years," Thalia said. "My dad's already got the transportation worked out."

Right...god of the sky...easy access to airplanes.

"That's...convienient," I mumbled, the slightest bit jealous.

"Don't worry, Percy! I won't leave you alone with nobody. You're too incompetent. You've got Annabeth!" she said.

And I was quite grateful for that.

"Yeah, sure, whatever, see you later Thalia."

She frowned.

"You know, your 'I don't care' attitude really pisses me off," she said, shocking me.

I probably would have lost it there, but I didn't want to ruin our goodbye.

"Bye Thalia, and Luke."

"Bye Percy!" Thalia said.

"See you later, Percy," Luke said.

And as they turned around, I squirted water at Thalia's hair. She, probably anticipating it, brushed her hair to knock the water off. Then, she turned around and stuck her tongue out at me.

That tipped me over the time. I was about to flood her when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"AHEM!" Zeus said. "You know, Perseus, I won't hesitate to incinerate you anymore now that the war is over."

I chuckled sheepishly.

"Eh..heh...heh..."

Zeus walked right by me like nothing ever happened. That was fine. I was good with that.

And then, Annabeth approached me.

"Well then, shall we?" Annabeth asked.

"What? You're coming with me?"

"Change in plan. I told my parents I was going to stay at camp for the year. Suited them fine," Annabeth said.

"Ah...but only you're not going to stay at camp. Ingenious. Just what I expected from you, Wise Girl."

We laughed.

"Well then, let's go!" someone said.

I turned around.

"Dad? You're coming too?"

"Sure. I haven't seen Sally in ages," Poseidon said.

"But how are we going to get there? I forgot to tell mom to pick me up."

Poseidon winked, and then, whistled.

Blackjack and one of his friends flew over from the staples.

_Where are we going today, boss? Wait...is that your girlfriend?_

Perfect...just perfect.


	50. A Blissful Paradise

**Chapter 50: A Blissful Paradise**

"Well, get on, Percy, I'll meet you there," Poseidon said reassuringly.

Annabeth and I got on to the pegasi and we got to my old apartment building by sunset. I flew past the window and knocked.

"Hey mom!"

A surprised mom, cocked her head towards the window, "Oh hey, Percy!" she said.

"Hello, Mrs. Jackson," Annabeth said.

"Oh, hello, Annabeth!" my mom said.

And a split second later, Poseidon materialized right in front of her.

"Hello, Sally," Poseidon said.

"Oh! Poseidon!" she gasped.

"Aw come on, Sally, don't I get a hello too?" he asked.

I was on the verge of bursting out laughing, but decided it was best to keep my mouth shut.

"Hold on, let me go open the window," she said.

"No, no, please don't, those two need some alone time," Poseidon said.

I laughed.

"So, Seeweed Brain, where to?" Annabeth asked.

"Hm...up. The roof."

"Perfect," she said.

_**Blackjack, let's go.**_

_Aye aye!_

_**Since when did you start getting piratey?**_

We circled up to the roof and jumped off the pegasi, onto the ledge. Blackjack and his mate landed right beside us, neighing in harmony.

And so, Annabeth and I sat there, embracing each other while enjoying the sunset. Although it wasn't much right now, I had a feeling that this was going to develop well.

I gazed off into the horizon as Annabeth softly, but affectionately pecked my cheek.

"I love you, Percy."

"Love you too, Annabeth."

I sighed, wondering if I was in heaven, but thankfully her lips told me otherwise.

I'd have to say, I'm glad it ended like this.

"Me too."

**First A/N: HAHA! Ironic that my first A/N is at the very end, right? Sorry, that it was so anticlimatic, I'm really bad at stuff like that, but thanks for supporting my story all along. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing. I'm working on a fic for Black Cat, so I doubt I'll be writing another fic for Percy Jackson and the Olympians soon, but I hope this won't be my last one. And so, here ends another story. THANKS FOR R&Ring!!!**

**Sincerely,**

**~Xangelic-demonicX – and yes, fyi, I am a living organism, just in case you didn't know**


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